Was that ‘Moonlight’ Oscar mix-up caused by a tweet?

When it comes to delivering powerful, moving speeches, Viola Davis never disappoints and last night was no exception.

“Warren, I know your pain”.

It was a completely unforgettable ending to what was, until that point, a largely forgettable night.

But people generally agree that the “La La Land” people acted with unbelievable grace when they learned, while still rotating through their acceptance speeches, that their film had, in fact, not won best picture. “I didn’t want to go up there and take anything from somebody”.

The Hollywood A-listers seated in the front row of the night’s Academy Awards were just as stunned as viewers at home when it was revealed that the Best Picture award had accidentally been given to the makers of La La Land. The Best Picture prize was actually awarded to “Moonlight”. “Warren, what did you do?” he ribbed at Beatty. As he explained afterward, the card inside the envelope wasn’t for best picture, instead, it was the winning best actress card for Emma Stone, the star of La La Land.

It’s clear now that Beatty wasn’t pausing for dramatic effect-he was truly confused. After all, Beatty has always been (and I mean this in the best possible way) a ham. But, after all the confusion, there turned out to be a good reason for the pause. “Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this”, Mr Kimmel joked on stage. Harvey misread the correct (admittedly confusingly laid out) envelope. Beatty can be seen carrying the red envelope for “Actress in a Leading Role”, which he opens, then hands to Dunaway.

How is that possible? But the card inside was a duplicate card of the Best Actress card that read “Emma Stone – LA LA LAND“. They then memorise the list and each take a briefcase of winners’ envelopes to the event, handing each one to presenters as they take to the stage.

In case you didn’t know, there are two people at the Awards entrusted with both the envelopes and the knowledge of each victor.

Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, the two accountants responsible, will however remain as partners at the firm.

After she made the announcement, Beatty missed another chance to stop the proceedings by saying something like, “Wait a moment, there seems to be something wrong with this card-can we get confirmation please?” The envelopes were redesigned this year to feature red paper with gold lettering that specified the award enclosed, rather than gold paper with dark lettering.

The awkward gaffe has now made way for a host of conspiracy theories over what was really behind the mix-up.

“You guys, I’m sorry, no”. Not in today’s post-great again America, no sir.

It tops the seven-hour 11-minute epic War and Peace, which won best foreign language film in 1969. Of the nine nominees of Best Picture, three were stories nominated by African-American actors and actresses, and “Moonlight” was the victor.

His achievement breaks a record that had been held for 86 years, by the late American film director and screenwriter Norman Taurog, who won the award in 1931 for helming the comedy Skippy. One of those two. Ali ended his acceptance speech by thanking his wife who gave birth to their daughter, Bari Najma Ali, just four days before.