They Actually Just Read the Wrong Name for Best Picture at the Oscars

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If you’re asked to present the biggest Academy Award of the year — Best Picture — what’s the worst that could happen?

You read the wrong name, right?

Well, that just happened.

Just after midnight, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented the last Oscar of the night — the one for Best Picture. And they accidentally gave it to “La La Land,” then that movie’s producers realized “Moonlight” actually won, probably because that’s what it said on their trophies. Then, the “La La Land” crew awkwardly shuffled offstage as “Moonlight” took over.

Like, yes, Warren Beatty just pulled a Steve Harvey, but instead of a B.S. beauty pageant, he was messing with something that actually kinda matters: the Academy Award for Best Picture.

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Warren Beatty looked confused when he saw the envelope, then handed it over to Faye Dunaway and finally announced “La La Land.”

The producers of “La La Land” rushed the stage and started to give the standard speeches. But then, one of them announced, “There’s been a mistake. ‘Moonlight’ won.”

As someone who just watched Beyoncé get robbed by Adele for the Album of the Year Grammy a couple of weeks ago, I assumed the “La La Land” guys were just being nice. But it turned out Warren had the wrong envelope, and “Moonlight” really was the winner.

It was bound to be a contentious award either way, because the crowd favorite was people-pleasing, showbiz-focused “La La Land,” while everyone secretly knew “Moonlight” was a way more important and deserving movie.

Of course Twitter lost its sh*t, and this guy pointed out Warren’s behavior was totally standard for any bro.

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It was a pretty insane moment. But hey, maybe Warren Beatty never bothered to learn to read since he was bae back in the day.

 

So WTF actually happened?

The envelope said “Emma Stone, ‘La La Land,'” according to Beatty, which is why he handed it over to Faye Dunaway, all confused. So it seems like Price Waterhouse Cooper, the agency that handles the top-secret Oscar results, are actually the ones who messed up big time.

Either way, Warren Beatty probably should’ve, you know, done something about it instead of just winging it.

At least now the right movie won, though. “La La Land” might have been delightful, but “Moonlight,” a movie about a gay black man coming of age, starring a Muslim actor, was definitely the preferred winner for a lot of people. A “La La Land” win would’ve likely resulted in backlash from moviegoers who are sick of the same old safe, racially homogeneous, heteronormative movies winning year after year.

In fact, it already was resulting in backlash just for the brief minute that we all thought “La La Land” had won Best Picture. For instance, the uber-white movie had already come under fire for not being diverse enough, and one of the producers mentioned his “blue-eyed wife” in his speech, only to have his reward taken away seconds later.

Twitter really got a kick out of that detail.

Sorry, blue-eyed wife.

Anyway, you can watch the moment of the mix-up below.

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