Statement From The Academy About The 'Moonlight' Best Picture Screw Up

The mistake that will haunt the Oscars telecast for decades. Maybe.

Like out of some sort of fan fiction, “La La Land” was announced by accident as the Best Picture winner for 2017 (although you’ll be able to argue for years whether presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were at fault for not asking why they had a duplicate envelope and winner for Best Actress in their hands). In truth, “Moonlight” was the surprise winner and it was only rectified after a member of the Price Waterhouse Cooper accounting team walked on stage to clarify the situation.

READ MORE: Oscars 2017: All The Acceptance Highlights & Best Picture Blunder

PWC, who has been the trusted accounting of the Academy for years, issued the following statement after the show:

“We sincerely apologize to “Moonlight,” “La La Land,” Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.

We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.

— PriceWaterhouseCoopers

You can watch the moment in its entirety below.