The 89th Oscars made history tonight. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show and did a fantastic job. He made jokes throughout the evening about American politics and some of the things that are happening in current events. Even so, he managed to keep things light and fun. He had even joked that he had never been to the Oscars before and they way they go through hosts he probably wouldn't be back.
What was the confusion about?
When it came time to announce the Best Picture, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway took the stage for the honor of listing the nominees and opening the envelope.
And that is where the problem began. When Warren Beatty opened the envelope, he says he wondered why it said "best actress" and he wondered if it had been a misprint as he read off "La La Land" instead of the actual winner, "Moonlight."
The cast of the movie began to take the stage to accept the award as the production team backstage were realizing the mistake. Oscar producer Michael DeLuca, standing next to the champagne poured to celebrate a good show, stared at a monitor trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Two sets of envelopes are prepared
In looking at what happened, there are two sets of envelopes put together for the show. Two PricewaterhouseCooper partners are given briefcases with a set of the envelopes.
As the ones announcing the category come to them, they give them the envelope for their category. When Warren Beatty opened the best actress instead of the best picture, he was opening an envelope he got from one of those partners. Emma Stone, who had announced Best Actress was still holding her envelope, so she had not misplaced it for him to pick it up.
It will be under close review in the days to come. This incident was history making for the Oscars but also a mistake no one will want to see in the future.
As the mix-up was happening on television, social media went crazy! There were so many posts from shocked viewers wondering how and why something like this could happen. Many were blaming Warren Beatty for the mistake.
