Well, folks, the 2017 Academy Awards ended on a weird note. After it originally looked like La La Land had won Best Picture, it turned out that the award had accidentally been given to the wrong movie. It was actually intended for Moonlight. That's right, they Steve Harveyed the whole thing! You can watch the awkward moment below.
Ok, here's what happened. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty came up on stage to announce the Best Picture winner, and after the nominees had been cycled through, Beatty took a long time to read the winner, and even passed it to Dunaway. Eventually they read La La Land as the victor, fulfilling what many had expected to happen. For the next couple minutes, director Damien Chazelle and the rest of the La La Land creative talent got up on stage and thanked people in their lives. You know, as one does. Then things took a turn for the weird when it was revealed by La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz that Moonlight was the actual Best Picture winner. Given Jimmy Kimmel's proclivity for pranks on his talk show, you wouldn't be faulted for thinking that was a joke, but nope, it was all real, and will now go down as one of the biggest flubs in Oscar history. If you want to look at it another way, it's a repeat of the trend Steve Harvey also accidentally set two years ago when he hosted the Miss Universe pageant.
As it turns out, Warren Beatty had been handed the wrong card when he and Faye Dunaway went up to present, and as the La La Land folks were taking in the honor, the mistake came to light, and the Moonlight folks came up to take their rightful honor. Of course, this then begs the question of how Beatty was given the wrong card before going up on stage. I'll admit, part of me wonders if this was manufactured to give the ceremony a little extra buzz and internet attention, but maybe I'm just being too conspiratorial. It's likelier this was just a simple card mixup. Whatever the case, this is going to be the moment most remembered when people look back on this year's ceremony. Not Jimmy Kimmel's monologue, not the candy air drop, not even the tourists being escorted into the theater. It will be La La Land being read instead of Moonlight for Best Picture.
Even though tonight concluded in arguably the most bizarre way possible, there was still plenty to enjoy throughout this year's Academy Awards. Click here to read the list of winners. And yes, we've made sure that Moonlight is the one as the Best Picture winner.
