Oscars 2017: PwC partner Tweeted backstage picture minutes before mix-up
A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner posted a celebrity photo on Twitter backstage minutes before he mistakenly gave envelope to Warren Beatty.
A managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP posted a celebrity photo on Twitter backstage at the Academy Awards Sunday night just minutes before he mistakenly gave an envelope to actor Warren Beatty that set off the disastrous announcement of the wrong best-picture winner.
Brian Cullinan, one of two PwC partners holding envelopes with the names of Oscar winners, tweeted “Best Actress Emma Stone backstage! #PWC” along with a photo of the actress at 9:05pm. Pacific time. That was approximately three minutes before Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway walked on stage to present the award for best picture.
Mr Cullinan gave Mr Beatty the envelope that was supposed to contain the name of the best-picture winner, people close to the production said. In reality, however, Mr Beatty was given a duplicate copy of the envelope containing Ms. Stone’s name as best actress. As a result, Ms. Dunaway mistakenly named “La La Land,” in which Ms. Stone starred, as best picture.
Mr Cullinan deleted the tweet, apparently last night. The Wall Street Journal has seen copies of the tweet, including a version publicly accessible on Google’s servers.
Mr Cullinan posted other photos on Twitter during the awards show that were also apparently deleted, said a person with knowledge of the matter.
PwC had no immediate comment on Mr Cullinan’s tweets. MrCullinan didn’t respond immediately to a separate request from the Wall Street Journal for comment.
In a statement, the accounting firm said: “We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.”
Just over two minutes after Ms Dunaway announced the wrong movie, Mr Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, the other PwC partner, rushed onstage with the envelope for the correct winner, Moonlight. Two La La Land producers had already given their acceptance speeches and a third was in the midst of his. It was unclear why it took that long for the accountants to correct the mistake.
On his Twitter bio, Mr Cullinan describes himself as “Counting Oscar ballots and keeping secrets.”
During the Academy Awards ceremony, Mr Cullinan and Ms. Ruiz were positioned on opposite sides backstage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Each had a full set of envelopes containing the winners in all 24 Oscar categories, because they can’t be certain ahead of time which side of the stage presenters will enter from, according to people close to the production. The two accountants have been handling Oscar duties for years; Mr Cullinan told Dow Jones’s Financial News in an interview last week that he and Ms. Ruiz are the only people in the auditorium who know the identities of the winners before they are announced.
Ms. Ruiz gave the best-actress envelope to presenter Leonardo DiCaprio, the knowledgeable people said, which resulted in Mr Cullinan having the extra envelope for that category, which he inadvertently gave to Mr Beatty. The best actress award was presented immediately before best picture.
The mix-up appears to be the worst in the 89-year history of the Academy Awards and resulted in confusion onstage and in the audience, as well stunned disappointment for the backers of La La Land and, initially, cautious jubilation by those who made “Moonlight.”
La La Land was widely considered the frontrunner for best picture, particularly after its director, Damien Chazelle, became the youngest person to win in that category earlier in the evening.
Michael Rapoport and Erich Schwartzel contributed to this report
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