Changes are coming to the Oscars, following the recent historic Best Picture blunder.
La La Land was initially named as the winner of the top honor at 2017 Oscars this past Sunday and while its cast and producers began giving speeches, Moonlight was revealed to be the real winner, causing confusion and shock. An accountant who works for the show, one of two, had handed the presenters the wrong envelope. It marked the biggest mistake seen at the Oscars in its 89-year history.
"By now, thanks to the non-stop coverage the past few days, we all know that the wrong envelope and the problems that ensued were caused by the failure of PwC's accountants to follow established protocols and their delay in immediately remedying the situation," Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on the Oscars, wrote in a recent email to the group's members.
"PwC has accepted full responsibility for the error," she said. "Rest assured changes will be implemented to ensure this never happens again."
Isaacs had said earlier this week that the "two accountants responsible for the Best Picture mistake will not work the Oscars again."
In her email, Isaacs also focuses on the positive, praising Oscars producers Jennifer Todd and Michael De Luca, host Jimmy Kimmel and the stage crew who handled "everything remarkably from the set collapsing during dress rehearsal to the rather chaotic ending of the show."
Moana star Auli'i Cravalho was hit by a flag while performing onstage the Disney movie's song "How Far I'll Go." She appeared unfazed.
In an interview on KCRW's The Business radio show, De Luca recalled the reactions to the Best Picture gaffe from backstage.
"I heard [fellow producer] Jennifer Todd next to me. It was like the Hindenburg report," he said.
He said Isaacs and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson went backstage to gather a team to answer questions.
"After it was over and everyone was crowding backstage, I ran into the theater to scoop up my wife and kids and brought them back to my production office," De Luca said. "By the time I went back to the green room, Dawn was already in mid-conversation with the players, just trying to figure out what happened. Everyone was a little shaken. Everybody looked white-faced and the blood was just drained from [them]."