With the "La La Land" and "Moonlight" debacle still fresh on moviegoers' minds, they can look ahead to see if the Oscars will redeem itself during the 90th Academy Awards Ceremony at 8 p.m. EST or 5 p.m. PST March 4 on ABC.
While Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway erroneously announcing "La La Land" for Best Picture was probably the biggest goof in the Oscars’ 90-year history, Hollywood’s grandest award ceremony is no stranger to awkward, cringe-worthy moments.
2017: 'La La Land' versus 'Moonlight'
"La La Land" and "Moonlight" were long predicted to be front-runners for Best Picture. No one was surprised when Beatty and Dunaway, celebrating the 50th anniversary of "Bonnie and Clyde," came onstage and announced "La La Land" as the winner.
But audiences could sense something was wrong. When Beatty glanced at the envelope, hesitation gripped his otherwise jocular face.
Everyone, including Dunaway, thought he was just milking the moment. When he showed Dunaway the envelope, she briskly announced "La La Land" as the winner.
The cast and the crew gathered onstage to give their acceptance speeches, when Oscar crewmembers marched onstage to inform them Beatty had just announced the wrong winner. Suddenly, Fred Berger concluded his speech with, “We lost, by the way.”
After some awkward laughter from the audience, "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz walked up to the microphone and announced "Moonlight" was in fact the winner and held up the real envelope for the world to see.
Amid mass onstage confusion, Beatty told the audience he had been given the wrong envelope, which stated Emma Stone had won Best Actress for her role in "La La Land."
Indeed, Brian Cullinan, an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, had handed Beatty the wrong envelope.
1964: Sammy Davis Jr. announces the wrong winner
The 2017 gaffe wasn’t the only time the wrong winner was announced at the Oscars. Popular actor and singer Sammy Davis Jr. wrongly announced John Addison’s score for "Tom Jones" as winner of Best Scoring of Music Adaptation or Treatment, only Addison wasn’t on the list of nominees. Davis quickly realized his mistake, and quipped, “They gave me the wrong envelope? Wait till the NAACP hears about this.”
Gracefully, Davis soon announced the real winner was Andre Previn for "Irma la Deuce."
1974: The Streaker
As host David Niven was introducing actress Elizabeth Taylor to present the 1974 Best Picture Award, audiences shrieked and laughed as a naked man ran across the stage with his hands making a peace sign. The man was Robert Opel, a conceptual artist, photographer and gay rights activist, who had streaked before, but never at the Oscars.
Taking in what had happened, Niven quipped, "Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen. But isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"
