Oscars 2017 | Academy apologizes for best picture gaffe

“La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz, left, presenter Warren Beatty, center, and host Jimmy Kimmel right, look at an envelope announcing “Moonlight” as best picture at the Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is apologizing to the cast and crews of the films “La La Land” and “Moonlight” for the mistaken announcement of the best picture winner during the Oscars award ceremony.

The Academy’s apology comes after the accounting firm responsible for the integrity of the Academy Awards, PwC, said mistakes were made and its staffers did not move quickly enough to correct the biggest error in Oscars history.

“We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony,” the Academy said in a statement. “We apologize to the entire cast and crew of ‘La La Land’ and ‘Moonlight’ whose experience was profoundly altered by this error.”

The Academy also apologized to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and to fans watching around the world.

The Academy’s statement noted that PwC, formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers, has been entrusted with handling Oscar votes for 83 years but said the Academy “will determine what actions are appropriate going forward.”

PwC wrote in its own statement that several mistakes were made and two of its partners assigned to the prestigious awards show did not act quickly enough when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner. Three of the film’s producers spoke before the actual winner, the coming-of-age drama “Moonlight,” was announced.

“PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars,” PwC wrote. It said its partner, Brian Cullinan, mistakenly handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway an envelope containing the winner of the best actress award.

“Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner,” the statement read. AP

Iranian hard-line newspapers criticize Farhadi’s Oscar win

Two Iranian hard-line newspapers have criticized Asghar Farhadi’s best foreign film Oscar, claiming “politics” brought him the award. The Keyhan daily said yesterday that President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban U.S. entry for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, was behind the award for “The Salesman.” The Javan daily says “Farhadi owes Donald Trump and the Democrats’ media propaganda for his second Oscar” and argues that the Oscar was an individual’s achievement rather than success of the Iranian cinema. This was the second Oscar for Farhadi, who boycotted the ceremony in protest of Trump’s executive order.