Warren Beatty announced the wrong Best Picture winner, initially saying it was "La La Land" "Moonlight" is the actual winner Beatty claims he was given the card for Best Actress, which Emma Stone won for her performance in "La La Land"
Warren Beatty will now definitely go down in Academy Awards history and it has nothing to do with any movie role of his. The actor announced the wrong Best Picture winner, first giving it to "La La Land" before the mistake was realized and the award was rightfully given to "Moonlight."
What's worse, it somehow took a few minutes for the mistake to be corrected. Multiple "La La Land" producers got to thank their moms, wives, and whoever else before having to give the stage, and their awards, to "Moonlight."
Beatty tried to explain he was given a card for Best Actress, which read "Emma Stone, La La Land." Host Jimmy Kimmel made reference to Steve Harvey, who famously announced the wrong winner at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant. Despite the very awkward moment, Barry Jenkins and the rest of the "Moonlight" team did their time to revel in the win and give their thank yous.
Later backstage, Stone herself said she's not sure how that could have happened. "I was also holding my ‘best actress in a leading role’ card that entire time," she told reporters. "So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card.”