Moonlight took Best Picture at last nights Oscars ceremony but not without an unprecedented gaffe by organizers as they gave co-presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty the wrong envelope.
As Dunaway announced La La Land the winner and the movies’ team arrived on stage there was a flurry of activity behind them as organizers realized the mistake.
As the gaffe sunk in, Jordan Horowitz, co-producer of La La Land said, “Guys, guys, I’m sorry. No. There’s a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won best picture.”
“This is not a joke,” co-producer Marc Platt interjected. “I’m afraid they read the wrong thing.”
Host Jimmy Kimmel, referring to the incident as a “Steve Harvey” moment tried to lighten the moment with jokes, “I think you guys should keep it anyway. Guys, this is very unfortunate what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this,” said Kimmel.
Finally, the Moonlight team took the stage with director Barry Jenkins saying, “Very clearly, even in my dreams this could not be true,” director Barry Jenkins said. “But to hell with dreams! I’m done with it, because this is true. Oh, my goodness.”
Turning to the La La Land team he said, “I have to say, and it is true, it’s not fake. We’ve been on the road with these guys for so long, and that was so gracious, and so generous of them. My love to La La Land, my love to everybody.”
Watch the video of the mix-up above and for the Washington Post minute-by-minute breakdown of the incident go here.
