We now have someone to blame for the Oscars best picture snafu

PricewaterhouseCoopers has named names for Sunday night’s Oscar mistake, putting the blame for the mix-up on the best picture announcement on Brian Cullinan.

Cullinan is a managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. His Twitter bio says “counting Oscar ballots & keeping secrets.” He is one of two people to know the Oscar winners before they are announced on stage.

“La La Land” was named as the best picture winner before “Moonlight” was rightfully announced as the winner. It was the most memorable moment of the Oscars and had everyone scratching their head trying to figure out how it happened.

“PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars. PwC Partner Brian Cullinan mistakenly handed the back-up envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner,” a new statement by PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

[How the system to prevent mistakes caused the biggest one in Oscar history]

[‘Moonlight’ wins best picture at botched Academy Awards]

Beatty said afterward that he saw the card said Emma Stone, who was the best actress winner. He appeared confused by the card, looking inside the envelope for another card. He then handed it to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land” as the winner.

In a joint interview with Medium before the Academy Awards, Cullinan and fellow PwC partner Matha Ruiz explained the process.

“We each have a full set. I have all 24 envelopes in my briefcase; Martha has all 24 in hers. We stand on opposite sides of the stage, right off-screen, for the entire evening, and we each hand the respective envelope to the presenter. It doesn’t sound very complicated, but you have to make sure you’re giving the presenter the right envelope,” Cullinan said.

After the show, Stone said she had her winning card with her backstage during the snafu. But there are two copies of it — and Beatty ended up with the other one in his hand during the best picture announcement.

“We are deeply sorry for the disappointment suffered by the cast and crew of “La La Land” and “Moonlight.” We sincerely apologize to Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and the Academy, none of whom was at fault for last night’s errors. We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to each of them for the graciousness they displayed during such a difficult moment,” the statement continued.

“For the past 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PWC with the integrity of the awards process during the ceremony, and last night we failed the Academy.”

The statement expanded on PwC’s original explanation, issued in the hours after the head-scratching finish to Sunday evening’s show.

President Donald Trump, a focal point of many of the jokes and comments during the show, offered a different take on why the end of the show went so badly.

“I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end,” Trump told Breitbart. “It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars. It didn’t feel like a very glamorous evening. I’ve been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 10:26 PM with the headline "We now have someone to blame for the Oscars best picture snafu."