PwC apologises over Oscars envelope blunder

Pushing the envelope.

Accountancy firm PwC is in grovelling mode after its role in the mix-up that led to La La Land mistakenly receiving the Oscar for best picture overnight.

While the gushing acceptance speeches were under way, the La La Land team was informed that in fact, the winner was Moonlight after a bungle with the wrong envelopes. PwC has been responsible for counting Oscars votes for 80 years, and for making sure presenters receive the right envelopes.

Today, it said:

We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.

We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the footage of the incident is truly painful to watch.