The Oscars 2017 witnessed one of the weirdest whoa moments in its history when presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway wrongly announced "La La Land" instead of "Moonlight" as the Academy Award winner for the best motion picture. While the "La La Land" team celebrated its victory, its producer Jordan Horowitz stunned the audience with the announcement that "Moonlight" was the actual winner. Warren then stepped back on stage to clarify he was given the envelope with the best lead actress winner’s name inside. Emma Stone who had won this award was convinced it was one of the craziest moments in the history of live television events.
Major Oscars 2017 bungle creates confusion
First time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali was backstage after receiving the best supporting actor award for his role in "Moonlight" and was definitely not in the mood to join his team on stage to receive the Best Picture award. Beatty made light of the error later with the announcement that he was not trying to be funny. This incident reminded one of a similar announcement at the Miss Universe pageant back in 2015 when Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner. Last year, there was hue and cry about the Academy ignoring ethnic and black minority talent. "Moonlight" winning The Oscars 2017 Best film award did set things right, but this bungle turned out to be a dampener.
Low-budget Oscars 2017 winner sets trend
With a budget of just $1.5 million, "Moonlight" was one of the low-budget films entered into the Oscars, as it scored the year’s biggest averages per theater earning an obscene $414,740 during its October 2016 weekend release. This critically-acclaimed film had to face stiff competition from "La La Land" that bagged six Oscars at this year's ceremony.
"Moonlight" shows there is an audience for drama. This widely acclaimed movie traces the life of a young Afro-American man, as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality in the midst of poverty. If this trend follows, we'll see a lot of diversity and more colored actors nominated for the Oscars in the future.
