Who is the PwC Accountant Behind the Oscar Gaffe?

In a rare and unexpected gaffe, “La La Land” which dominated the 89th Academy Awards, was announced the victor of the Best Picture category, when in fact it was “Moonlight”.

If you’re confused, don’t worry, everyone is.

Brian Cullinan handed the wrong envelope to presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, leading them to call the evening’s top prize for “La La Land” rather than the real victor, “Moonlight”, according to reports citing the firm and other unnamed sources.

Beatty said afterward that he saw the card said Emma Stone, who was the best actress victor. “#PWC” three minutes before Beatty and Faye Dunaway took the stage to present Best Picture.

Talk about a Hollywood ending. La La Land, the most-nominated movies of all time, had won five awards already, including Stone’s and Damien Chazelle’s for best director. The film’s cast and crew, including stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, took the stage. Beatty opens a red envelope and looks at the card inside, giving a double-take. It was the most memorable moment of the Oscars and had everyone scratching their head trying to figure out how it happened.

“All you people out there who feel like there’s no mirror for you, that your life is not reflected, the Academy has your back, the ACLU has your back, we have your back”, he said.

But this was something different: Beatty apparently had the wrong envelope.

The host showed a “clip” of what happened, with a close-up of the envelope, which read, “Moonlight is not the film that didn’t win best picture”.

“We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony”, the Academy said in a statement shared last night (February 27). “Warren, what did you do?” he ribbed at Beatty. It was left to the musical’s producer, Jordan Horowitz, to put things right. “Why can’t we just give out a whole bunch of them?”

But this was not generosity on Horowitz’s part, just a simple fact: Moonlight was in fact the Best Picture victor. Thank you speeches had begun when representatives for PwC realized the mistake and rushed onstage to try and stop the speeches.

The moment was not only unfortunate and embarrassing for La La Land, but it also robbed Moonlight of its deserved moment in the sun.