Behold, the Awkwardness: They Read Out the Wrong Best Picture Winner at the Oscars

Do over!

Well, the Academy Awards just culminated in one of the most awkward and uncomfortable moments in its 89-year history. (And no, it wasn’t Casey Affleck receiving the Best Actor prize.)

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced from the podium that the winner of Best Picture was La La Land, which had already collected six awards from its record 14 nominations, including Best Actress for Emma Stone and Best Director for Damien Chazelle (the category’s youngest ever winner).

Except… it wasn't? The duo had been incorrectly handed the envelope for 'Best Actress' by the team at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Representatives from PwC, realising the mistake, rushed the stage and handed the producers the actual card, which read Moonlight, the underdog indie flick which had nabbed awards in the fields Best Adapted Screenplay, for writer-director Barry Jenkins, and Best Supporting Actor, for Mahershala Ali (making him the first ever Muslim actor to score an Oscar).

Prepare to cringe.

Naturally, Twitter erupted.

In true form, La La Land only won Best Picture in a fantasy moment shared between former lovers imagining wistfully what might have been.

— Calum Marsh (@calummarsh) February 27, 2017

oscars, produced by m night shyamalan

— Jason Powers (@jayjaypowpow) February 27, 2017

 

Elsewhere in the ceremony, Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress for Fences, Kenneth Lonergan won Best Original Screenplay for Manchester by the Sea, Zootopia won Best Animated Feature and OJ: Made in America won Best Documentary, which is all great, but right now, all we can think about is Warren Beatty’s beet-red, embarrassed cheeks.

It’s true, Warren Beatty did screw everyone in Hollywood.

— Ray Pride (@RayPride) February 27, 2017

Correction: This story initially stated that the original envelope read "Moonlight". Student Edge (just like Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, PwC and the entire Academy) regrets the error.

Photo: ABC