After facing sudden mayhem during the night’s final award nomination for best picture, the 89th Academy Awards fell just short of a seemingly flawless ceremony. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, stars of the 1967 crime film Bonnie and Clyde, were announcing when the mishap began.
The first indication of disorder was Warren’s look of confusion after opening the letter. Mistaken for a failed attempt at humor, Dunaway snatched the letter and swiftly declared the film La La Land winner of the nomination. The cast and crew came up and began acceptance speeches, but were vaguely listened to as the audience was distracted by the commotion going on behind the microphone.
After hearing about the confusion, La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt quickly announced the real winners: “I’m sorry, there’s a mistake.” Horowitz displayed the real card to the cameras to show the audience. “Moonlight, you guys won best picture. This is not a joke. They read the wrong thing.”
Though this accident brought a variety of mixed emotions to the awards, celebrities and fans on social media have been able to poke fun at the accident and lighten the mood. The host of the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel, joked with the crowd: “Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this…” referring to when Harvey made the huge mistake, at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, of announcing the wrong winner.
Other celebrities like Ross Mathews and Whitney Cummings tweeted their reactions. Matthews posted, “THAT. WAS. CRAZY. #Oscars,” while Whitney Cummings showed some comical sympathy for Beatty: “Oof now we have to behold another legend be reduced to a meme. Warren I promise to scroll past them in solidarity.”
There is no doubt that this mistake is one to be remembered. 89 Academy Awards later and though we have managed to drop candy from the ceiling, we still can’t seem to finish the night without a shocking failure of a finale.
Of the many things that will come from this years Oscars, one of the favorable results may be the potential increase in an audience for next year. Hopefully, if that is the case, the awards go according to plan.