ABC/Eddy Chen
(LOS ANGELES) — At the open of his first show since hosting this year’s Oscars Sunday night, Jimmy Kimmel sounded off on the so-called “Envelope-Gate” controversy, in which La La Land was accidentally named Best Picture, instead of Moonlight. “We were chugging along, and all of a sudden out of nowhere it turned into one of those Maury Povich paternity test shows,” Kimmel admitted, to laughs.
“It was the weirdest TV finale since Lost.”
Jimmy told the audience the original plan to have him close the show was to have him be sitting in the audience with his evening’s frequent target, Matt Damon. “Make no mistake, Matt Damon lost,” Jimmy clarified, before continuing to explain how he was watching the confusion on stage when Damon mentioned he thought he heard the wrong envelope was handed out.
Kimmel said, “‘Well, the host will go onstage and clear this up,’ and then I remember, ‘Oh! I’m the host!”
In the end, one of two accountants from PriceWaterHouseCoopers apparently handed Warren Beatty the wrong envelope — giving the actor the “Best Actress” one, instead of the “Best Picture” envelope. It was a mistake some are mumbling might have been avoided if Brian Cullinan hadn’t been distracted by tweeting out a picture of Emma Stone backstage, minutes before the hand-off.
In a statement, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it deeply regrets the error, and wanted to, “apologize to the entire cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight, whose experience was profoundly altered by this error.”
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