By Phoebe Mendelson ’17
The mix-up between “La La Land” and “Moonlight” for who won best picture is how many are remembering the 89th Academy Awards that took place on Feb. 26, 2017. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, over 34 millions viewers were tuned in to watch the Oscar’s unfold. From Viola Davis winning best supporting actress, to Emma Stone winning best actress in a leading role, the night took an unexpected turn within the last 10 minutes of the broadcast.
Presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced “La La Land” as the winner of best picture. Only after the speeches from the “La La Land” team were concluded was it realized that there was a mistake, and it was actually “Moonlight” that won the award. Confusion broke out among not only the presenters and actors on stage, but Staples students as well.
Simone Barr ’18 was one of many Staples students that was tuned in to the Academy Awards while this took place. “Overall it was a shocking event to witness that I think unfortunately ended the otherwise successful night on a bit of an uneasy note,” Barr said.
Not only were many people shocked by the series of events, but some were disappointed as well. Olivia Von der Ahe ’18 was let down by the ultimate result.
“At first I was so happy that ‘La La Land’ had won because it is by far my favorite movie; I’ve seen it five times,” Von der Ahe said. “When they announced that it was actually ‘Moonlight,’ which I have never heard of, I was really upset.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm responsible for tallying the ballots, released an online statement the following day apologizing for the confusion and explaining the situation.
“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,” the company stated.
While many people had mixed emotions over the incident, many agreed that it was taken care of very professionally.
“I think it was handled, at the time, the best way it could have been. It is live theatre after all and this sort of thing happens,” Jack Norman ’17 said. “Jimmy handled it humorously and I think that Warren did the best he could.”
Photo used under the Creative Commons License
