Revisiting the 2017 Oscars Best Picture Mix-Up

Looking back at the award show mishap almost one year later

By Jess Cohen Jan 23, 2018 6:05 PMTags

We're quickly approaching the one-year anniversary of the 2017 Oscars Best Picture mix-up.

At the very end of last year's show, La La Land was incorrectly named the Best Picture winner instead of the actual winner of the award, Moonlight. It all started when presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were about to open the envelope and announce the winner. Before reading the film written inside the envelope, Beatty paused, looking up and down as if he knew something wasn't right.

He then handed the envelope to Dunaway who went on to announce La La Land as the Best Picture winner.

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2018 Oscars: Notable Nominees
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The cast of La La Land then took the stage to accept the award and producers began to give speeches, but then there seemed to be some commotion going on in the background. After giving his speech, producer Fred Berger told the audience, "We lost by the way."

Producer Jordan Horowitz then announced, "There's a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke."

Host Jimmy Kimmel then told the crowd, "This is very unfortunate, what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this." Beatty then returned to the microphone explaining what had happened.

"I want to tell you what happened," Beatty said. "I opened the envelope, and it said Emma Stone, La La Land. That's why I took such a long look at Faye [Dunaway] and at you, I wasn't trying to be funny."

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Here's How the 2018 Oscars Hope to Avoid Another Moonlight Mix-Up
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And after taking a closer look at a picture of the envelope Beatty was holding on stage, the envelope reads "Best Actress in a Leading Role." So, the presenters had ended up with the wrong envelope before taking the stage to announce Best Picture.

After realizing it really wasn't a joke, the cast and producers of Moonlight took the stage to accept the award.

Now, with the 2018 Oscars just over a month away, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is enforcing new protocols to avoid future award mishaps. To avoid employees being distracted during the show, and handing presenters the wrong envelopes, the use of phones and social media backstage during the show has been banned. Also, both the presenters and a stage manager will confirm that they have the correct envelope before the presenters take the stage.

Additionally, the two PwC employees found responsible for mishandling the 2017 Best Picture envelope have not been invited back to the 2018 Oscars.

On Tuesday, the nominees for the 90th Academy Awards were announced with Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri all receiving Best Picture nominations.

Kimmel will return as host of the 2018 Oscars on March 4 on ABC. In a just-released new promo for the award show, Kimmel worries about the envelope mishap and there's an appearance by Beatty. Watch above!

Be sure to watch E! News Monday for more Oscar coverage at 7 and 11 p.m., only on E!