PwC accountants banned from future Oscars after envelope gaffe

Oscar statuette is seen during the 89th Annual Academy Awards Oscar Foreign Language Film Award Directors reception in Beverly Hills, California, on February 24, 2017.AFP/Chris Delmas

The two accountants responsible for the wrong film being announced as best picture winner at the Oscars have been banned from attending future ceremonies.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz would not be returning to the awards.
The pair, from PwC, were supposed to have been taking care of the envelopes that contained details of the winners, but gave out the wrong one for the biggest award of the night.
It led to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway telling millions of viewers that La La Land had won best picture, rather than the actual winner Moonlight.

The producers of La La Land then began giving their acceptance speeches before officials were able to correct proceedings and invite the cast and crew of the low budget film to the stage to collect their award.

Ms Boone Isaacs said the Academy’s relationship with PwC was under review.
Prior to the mix-up, Mr Cullinan had tweeted a photo of best actress winner Emma Stone from the backstage area minutes before the best picture award was handed out.
Ms Boone Isaacs said his distraction is what caused the Academy’s worst blunder in its 89 year history.
The Academy has also apologised to the Australian movie producer it incorrectly showed during Sunday’s Oscars In Memoriam reel.
A statement said the Academy extended its “deepest apologies” to Jan Chapman, whose photo was mistakenly used in the tribute instead of Chapman’s colleague and friend, the late Janet Patterson.