The Play-by-Play, in Pictures, of That Epic Oscars Fail
Going into this year's Oscars, we really thought that the most controversial situation would be Casey Affleck winning best actor, not that the wrong best picture winner would be announced. But it happened, and now we're left questioning how something like this could happen (and what other Oscar winners were a mistake?! Just kidding. We think). In any case, the mix-up was so awkward that even Emma Stone felt the need to defend herself in the Oscar press room right after it happened, and just about everyone is weighing in. We're pretty sure it's the most awkward Oscar stage moment in history, and if you're not sure — well, just take a look at the pictures of it unfolding.
First, you knew something was wrong when Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty seemed really confused after they opened the envelope. Now we know why — it said "Emma Stone, La La Land," according to Beatty.
The cast and huge crew associated with La La Land got on stage, and producer Jordan Horowitz started giving his acceptance speech like nothing was wrong.
But then he was informed that La La Land did not, in fact, win, and Beatty came back to the mic to help explain.
Horowitz is like, "This is not a joke." Oh, but who sort of hoped it was?! Look at that producer behind Kimmel in panic mode.
He held up the Moonlight card to prove it.
Oof.
Meanwhile, the Moonlight cast is like, "Wait . . . we won?!" The confusion is so real.
Then Beatty comes back to the mic to try to save himself and explain what happened (he had an envelope with Stone's name in it), but we were all still really confused.
And the two tried to resolve the biggest screw-up in Oscars history while the world was watching.
Sorry, Jimmy Kimmel.
Then the La La Land crew was like, "Time to get off the stage!"
And Horowitz graciously handed over the Oscar to Barry Jenkins without a fight.
No beef here — just some real, genuine hugging after a supremely awkward moment.
And the two casts mixed like, "So . . . that was weird."
We feel you, Ryan Gosling.