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Think YOUR job is difficult? Hey, there's a guy in Hollywood who has to hand the right envelope to the right person at the right time.
Oh, wait. That sounds really easy—yet it got screwed up.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are about to announce best picture, the culmination of entertainment's biggest awards show. Beatty opens a red envelope and looks at the card inside, giving a double-take. He looks inside the envelope to see if there's anything else there.
BEATTY: "The Academy Award..."
He pauses, looks at the envelope again.
BEATTY: "For best picture..."
He pauses again and looks offstage, then hands the envelope to Dunaway, who gives it a quick glance.
DUNAWAY: "La La Land."
The audience applauds, as the cast, crew, and producers of "La La Land" take the stage to accept what many had anticipated, the coveted honor of best picture. Producers Jason Horowitz and Marc Platt give speeches, but something seems amiss as Platt speaks. There's commotion among the people standing behind him as a man wearing headphones appears and checks red envelopes being held by producers.
[...] HOROWITZ: "There's a mistake. 'Moonlight', you guys won best picture. This is not a joke."
PLATT: "This is not a joke. I'm afraid they read the wrong thing."
[...] [Oscars host Jimmy] KIMMEL: "Guys. This is very unfortunate what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this."
[...] KIMMEL: "Warren, what did you do?"
BEATTY: "I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said 'Emma Stone, La La Land'. That's why I took such a long look at Faye and you. I wasn't trying to be funny."
takyon: 89th Academy Awards
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @06:45PM (21 children)
So what? Do you give a damn when the HR drone announcing a General Dynamics Top Engineer for 2016 stumbles or fumbles?
No?
Let's not give the MPAAholes more press than they deserve, shall we?
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Monday February 27 2017, @06:50PM (12 children)
+1 HELL YES!
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday February 27 2017, @06:52PM (11 children)
-1 "HELL NO, THE SUB MOST GO (UP)"
This is also a nice place to discuss the Oscars in general, or maybe some of the films involved.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:20PM (8 children)
Discuss the oscars?
Every single one of the awards ceremonies that "consumers" eat up, should be trashed. They are nothing but huge circle jerks. He who strokes the most p̶h̶a̶l̶u̶s̶e̶s̶ egos gets an award.
Have you ever given any thought to the fact that NONE of those people in Hollywood are real people? People admire them, but they are all just pretend people. They pretend to love each other, or to hate each other. They pretend to be coworkers, or parents and offspring, or spouses, they pretend to do things. But, THEY NEVER DO A THING!
Outside of Hollywood, things may be a little more "real", but the awards ceremonies remain a circle jerk. "You stroke mine, and you'll get your strokes too!"
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Monday February 27 2017, @10:35PM (7 children)
> they pretend to do things. But, THEY NEVER DO A THING!
Pretending in a believable way is pretty hard work.
They provide the "circenses" part, which has been very useful as the "panem" got hijacked.
I wish I could put my face and name on a crappy product, and have it sell over $50M. A-list actors are like pro athletes. Events outside of the main game are required to keep up their value.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday February 27 2017, @11:09PM (6 children)
+3 Hell yes, just to compensate for takyon.
Sorry, takyon, but.... when anything about the oscars starts to matter in life, i'll agree with you but for now it is a non-starter in my opinion.
I agree with Bob:
1. Rhianna: what has she REALLY, TRULY done to deserve the money she gets.
2. Brad Pitt: name one movie that you would say changed your life (and if you say Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you might as well just kill yourself) and tell me why HE deserves the money he has made. (oh, yeah.... pretty boy. That's why he's rich... pretty boy.)
3. Name an actor or musician who has truly, REALLY TRULY done something deserving of a real standing ovation and millions, and you'll probably be naming someone who isn't making that kind of money.
I mean, let's put Rhianna and Stephen Hawking in a cage match of "WHO HAS TRULY DONE/DISCOVERED SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO BETTER MANKIND".
Einstein vs. JayZ.
Find me someone at the oscars who deserves to be almost God worshipped, and i'll spank my own ass.
Find me someone at the grammy's who... same. (for Dogs sake, Michael fecking Jackson won grammy's out his ass and for what? Moon walking? How about making a millionaire out of Neil fecking Armstrong or the people who (if you believe the rumours) put him ON the moon).
Fecking oscars.... give one to Ed Wood, and i'll applaud.
***They gave fecking John Travolta a square at "Grauman's Chinese Theatre" before they gave one to Clint Eastwood!!!!! John fecking has done nothing much Travolta!!
Huh... i'm spent.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @11:55PM
Name an actor or musician who has truly, REALLY TRULY done something deserving of a real standing ovation
Well, there are those who have used their celebrity (and friendships) in a positive way.
George Harrison - Concert for Bangladesh
Bob Geldof - Live Aid
Willie Nelson - Farm Aid
You may quibble about the actual monetary impact of those projects, but they served to raise the consciousness of many WRT the issues.
and [who is making] millions [of dollars],
I was surprised at Geldof's net worth. [google.com]
and you'll probably be naming someone who isn't making that kind of money
I'm sure there are many in the entertainment business who have only a -comfortable- level of affluence who are doing admirable humanitarian works as well.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:09AM (3 children)
Your complaints say nothing about the people you criticize and everything about how limited you are.
All of those people have brought joy to millions and millions of people.
In the grand scheme of things, that is literally the most important function anyone can have in life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:25PM (1 child)
Gaark doesn't seem to be terribly limited. The limited people are those who need Hollywood to entertain them. Your lives are so fucking meaningless, you find your heroes among the wastrels in Hollywood.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:23PM
Clearly you are in great need of joy in your life.
Hope you find it, somewhere.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 01 2017, @04:16AM
No, I'm not limited.
Have you ever listened to Mario Lanza sing Nessum Dorma? His version is better than Pavarotti's and could almost make you weep with happiness.
I love watching Corner Gas and the I.T. Crowd: they are not 'amazing shit' deserving of standing ovations, but they are funny shows and make me laugh.
Michael Jackson is shit. JayZ is a joke.
So many awards go to crap (again, John fecking Travolta?!?!? Don't make me vomit.).
Show me something amazing and I will applaud.
Show me crap: The Martian did NOT win an academy award, but O.J. the documentary DID win one!!!! L.O.L!!!!! The Martian was a great book and the movie was far more entertaining than O.J.
It had substance worth applauding. O.J. just rehashed shit we already knew.
"All of those people have brought joy to millions and millions of people.": I can't help it if some people have no taste and have no real actual life: they just suck in what they are fed.
Brad Pitt is nothing, really, when you think about it.... Again, name me one thing of substance he has done. Then go listen to Nessum Dorma.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday March 01 2017, @01:43AM
Name an actor or musician who has truly, REALLY TRULY done something deserving of a real standing ovation
Ronald Reagan's 1987 "Tear down this wall" performance was pretty good, I'd have stood to applaud that.
(Score: 3, Touché) by cmn32480 on Monday February 27 2017, @07:33PM (1 child)
Oscar? Wasn't he the puppet in the garbage can on Sesame Street?
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday February 27 2017, @09:48PM
Total grouch.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 27 2017, @07:07PM (5 children)
How often does that happen on live TV, though?
What I'm wondering is how much money it would have cost to print the category at the top of the paper... as they will next year.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:34PM (3 children)
All in all, yeah, multiple changes seem likely for next year - better labelling (on both the envelope and card), some more error checking in the procedures (including the announcers), and quite possibly someone other than PWC handling it all too.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 27 2017, @08:00PM (2 children)
While I consider the Oscars abominable, the Big Reveal remains an interesting problem. You have a secret that you want to keep secret from as many people as possible until a given moment when you want it to flip to the opposite (having as many people know as possible). This secret must be kept from anyone exposed to the public, most particularly the announcers who are to reveal the secret, who might accidentally telegraph the secret, if they know it ahead of time.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday February 27 2017, @09:15PM (1 child)
Obviously, PWC screwed up - their job on the night is to ensure the envelopes are kept secure then handed over in the correct sequence at the appropriate point, and they clearly didn't check the text on the envelope matched the award before giving it to Beatty. So far at least I've not seen anything on what kind of error checking (if any) that the presenters are meant to do, and what (if anything) they are supposed to do if they feel something is amiss. Under the pressure of the moment, did Beatty forget to check the envelope had the right award on the back when he was first given it? Before he opened it? What about checking the card in case an incorrect card was in the correct envelope? Or, as you note, was his eyesight simply not up to the task?
Fundamentally, I don't see how the physical setup could be improved, except possibly through some larger type and better control of the redundant envelopes. Procedurally however, I think we're going to see more expected of the presenters in future, including the three checks I mentioned above - and probably some truly awful jokes about it at next year's ceremony.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday February 28 2017, @08:31AM
In a terrible sort of way, I actually found it refreshing to be reminded that I am not the only one who occasionally phux up big-time.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:56AM
> [...] how much money it would have cost to print the category at the top [...]
Toner, a penny or so.
A typist's labor, a few dollars.
Lost publicity, priceless.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:37PM (1 child)
How many of these things have been done, what's their failure rate? Is it any worse than Bill Gates' software debuts?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @06:02AM
If Microsoft did these awards, the fuck-up would be discovered by an independent researccher and wouldn't be fixed even a year later.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Celestial on Monday February 27 2017, @06:46PM (8 children)
There clearly was a mix-up at the Academy Awards last night. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was meant to win "Best Picture," obviously.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday February 27 2017, @06:55PM (2 children)
Suicide Squad should have gotten Best Editing,..
...the trailer for Suicide Squad, that is.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Monday February 27 2017, @07:10PM
You do have a point. The 2016 Comic-Con trailer was better than the movie.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:41PM
No, that's not a joke; apparently it won Best Make Up. I seriously suspect that there's probably something about that in the Book of Revelations if you read between the lines in the right way, probably right around the bit about the Seventh Seal...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Nuke on Monday February 27 2017, @07:03PM (4 children)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was meant to win "Best Picture," obviously.
No, it should have been Gayniggers from Outer Space. Oh wait, it did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @10:43PM (3 children)
How is this shit even remotely informative?
WTF is wrong with soylent?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday February 27 2017, @11:11PM
Clearly, everyone thought it was Ethanol posting... then they realized it wasn't and went: "huh! that's informative! It wasn't Ethanol!"
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:24AM (1 child)
Some people troll with multiple accounts, some people are genuinely just not good people... The only reason I stick around here is that there are other voices of reason to push back against the trolls and loonies. Hell, even the user who has real mental health problems is way above the blind ideologues.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @05:53AM
Huh? The blind fella seems alright.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Nuke on Monday February 27 2017, @06:59PM (1 child)
The same thing happened there :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKLSgLsDEGg [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:07AM
If nothing else, the mistake provided the pageant with a sudden jolt of attention.
Vulture's Joe Adalian, a veteran television industry reporter, said it "wouldn't shock me" if the crown switcheroo was actually a planned stunt. "Everybody wins here," he said.
-- http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/20/media/miss-universe-steve-harvey-mistake/index.html [cnn.com]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday February 27 2017, @07:01PM (3 children)
I'm surprised the viewer numbers are so high. 30 to 40 million viewers each year. 90% of the USA population isn't watching which seems a bit low for something so obscure.
I would have guessed about 5 or so mil. Like "The Bachelor" as a standard candle of degeneracy gets about 10M viewers so I figured it would be half as popular not three times as popular.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Monday February 27 2017, @07:31PM (1 child)
I scrolled my Facebook (I know, I know... kill me now) feed this morning and found that people were doing play by play... I could not for the life of me understand it.
I guess some people care about it... and most of us don't.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:45PM
Same reason people watch the super bowl.
Its a ritualistic cultural event that happens once a year.
Both are boring as hell to me. But its not at all surprising that people are into it. Its human nature.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Monday February 27 2017, @07:43PM
Are those the US numbers? Cause they broadcast that stuff across the globe. If those are global numbers that still is a lot of people but at the same time somewhat less impressive. There are always some fanatics that don't mind sitting up into the wee hours of the morning to watch this stuff (not me, I don't really see the point of it - it's clearly a very internal hollywood thing and I'd rather watch the movies then some award show), just as there is a global audience for the Superbowl etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:22PM (11 children)
My guess at the rest of the story:
If, as tfs says, Warren reported correctly: "I opened the envelope and it said 'Emma Stone, La La Land'."
Who got the envelope for Best Actress? Seems likely there was a switcheroo and this one probably said, 'La La Land' inside it. After the Best Actress presenter covered up the error (perhaps subconsciously) by verbally adding in the missing 'Emma Stone', they should have reported the problem to the back stage manager.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Monday February 27 2017, @07:36PM (6 children)
There are 2 sets of envelopes, each goes to one of 2 employees of the accounting firm responsible for the counting. One person is on the left of the stage, the other on the right. So 1 person screwed up by giving the wrong envelope to Beatty, I'm guessing they won't be doing the Oscars next year.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:48PM (2 children)
So 1 person screwed up by giving the wrong envelope to Beatty, I'm guessing they won't be doing the Oscars next year.
Or not. I'm not saying it was planned, but it sure did generate a lot of buzz.
After all, the story would not have been posted here if it weren't for the mix-up.
There is a saying in hollywood - I don't care what you say about me, just as long as you spell my name right.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)
I'm not saying it was planned, but it sure did generate a lot of buzz.
Wake up sheeple!
Everybody involved in this crisis are actors.
It was obviously a planned stunt in order to take power from Price Waterhouse Coopers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @11:30PM
Remember Carnac? [wikipedia.org]
Apparently, that was a better system of custody than what happened last night.
The balloting, counting, and the envelopes are the exclusive responsibility of PricewaterhouseCoopers right up to the moment the envelope is handed to the presenter.
As Snotnose noted above, there are duplicate envelopes.
AC #472491 notes more specifically that it's for convenience.
The logical way to handle this would be to have a rack/bin for each envelope custodian.
When an award has been given out, the duplicate envelope for that is binned.
Have the guys assigned to the task have dry-run practices.
I mean, how hard can it be to get this right?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:55PM
Interesting, so it's a combination of:
Duplication of the data (two sets of identical envelopes?) so that the presenters can come onstage from either direction and be handed an envelope at the last moment before walking out.
Counting error by one person, who didn't keep up with the flow--they need to discard the matching envelopes to those given out by the other side of the stage.
Safer to have the presenters all come out the same way, past one accountant, with one stack of envelopes.
This whole thing brought back memories of high school and stage crew. Many of the actors were stuck-up jerks, so we retaliated by trying to hit them with (lightweight) flats that we flew up and down during scene changes.
For "The Wiz", we built a rotating covered bridge so the actors could walk on and then we would rotate 180 deg...and they would walk off and be back where they started. Worked great the first two nights. On the final night, the crew guy on the switch let it spin around a few times. It stopped past the correct clock angle and he reversed it (3-phase motor, instant reverse) to leave it in the right place. The actor trapped inside was pretty dizzy when he staggered out!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @01:01AM (1 child)
Seems UI engineers are destroying other industries too. Is it really that difficult to have the award type and name on the same card?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday February 28 2017, @02:13AM
They did have both on the same card.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday February 27 2017, @07:38PM (3 children)
Who got the envelope for Best Actress? Seems likely there was a switcheroo and this one probably said, 'La La Land' inside it.
Except that the apparently missing card would have said "Moonlight," not "La La Land."
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:58PM (2 children)
While the other (correct one) read:
Clearly Beatty was under a lot of pressure and Dunaway didn't really even look at the card before reading the movie name, but it's possible they *could* have noticed that PWC had screwed up and simply said something about appearing to have the one card and made a joke of it while waiting for it to be checked and sorted out. Not ideal, but still better than what actually happened.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday February 27 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)
they *could* have noticed that PWC had screwed up and simply said something about appearing to have the one card and made a joke of it while waiting for it to be checked and sorted out. Not ideal, but still better than what actually happened.
Perhaps not ideal, but so close to ideal that it would have made no noticeable difference...
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday February 28 2017, @08:44AM
People will react the damndest ways to unrehearsed situations.
Ever seen the reels of bloopers even experienced actors do?
Except this one went live.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:36PM (3 children)
Just a stunt by the MPAA to get more attention. Guess what, it worked. We should not be falling for this junk and this should never be on SN.
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Monday February 27 2017, @09:13PM (2 children)
First thing to mind for me was "Is this a riff on the election?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @02:47AM
They were just trying to re-enact that part of the 3rd Naked Gun film.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:27AM
So if La La Land is Clinton, who is Donald Trump? Suicide Squad?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bogsnoticus on Monday February 27 2017, @08:42PM (6 children)
They're paid just to read what's put in front of them.
If you honestly expect them to perform any critical thinking over what they're given to read, then most would be unemployed due to refusing to work with shite scripts full of plotholes and crap dialogue.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:49PM (3 children)
Jelly, jell-jell-jelly!
Awwww, you are important too bognosh!
Feel better, now?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday February 27 2017, @11:19PM (2 children)
It's a jelly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5bVm5qsbbM [youtube.com]
Now there's a movie that should have won an Oscar.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:21AM (1 child)
It won the Canadian equivalent, a Genie award.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/awards?ref_=tt_awd [imdb.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Award [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 28 2017, @11:38AM
Did not know that!
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @09:13PM (1 child)
You could be talking about *any* broadcast show. I seriously don't get the celebrity news anchor thing in the USA. Some suitably attractive (female) or serious (male) looking actor reads off a prompter and exhibits faux outrage. And that is your real news, not even the fake stuff.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday February 27 2017, @10:07PM
But, but, they are "celebrites" (oops, "newscasters", "real newsmen" or whatever).
The *personality* gives the credibility. I'm sure some newspresenters on million-dollar salaries *want* to do "real" journalism and present in-depth analysis, but they all want the pay more.. Entertain, don't inform, you might make people think, and that will scare them away..
Actors just want the money (or the adulation, but pay them first)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:30AM
...headline only slightly so.
(Score: 1) by snmygos on Tuesday February 28 2017, @07:01AM
The trick worked to Miss Universe event: lot of publicity. It deserved to be used again.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday February 28 2017, @10:54AM
They used the wrong photo for a dead person.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/oscars/oscars-2017-jan-chapman-devastated-at-wrong-picture-in-janet-patterson-tribute-20170227-gumlc8.html [smh.com.au]