At that point, he showed it to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land.” Beatty assured viewers that the error was unintentional and he wasn’t trying to turn the biggest award into a joke.” 
 
 — It’s not the first time the wrong category winner was an issue at the Oscars. Emma Stone: ‘I was holding my best actress card the whole time’ 
 
 "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz interrupts the Oscars telecast Sunday night to announce that "Moonlight," not "La La Land" was the real winner for best picture. Producer Fred Berger takes over the mic and gives a speech anyway, finishing with: “We lost.” Behind him, the representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who oversee the Oscar vote – Brian Cullinan (holding envelope) and Martha Ruiz (in red dress) – are on stage, examining the envelopes. When supporting actress winner Viola Davis (Fences) comes backstage, Theron keeps MacLaine out of the way of the crush and is the first to hug Davis, saying, "Oh, my God. No one knows how Beatty got a best actress envelope; Stone later tells reporters in the media room that she has been holding her envelope the entire time. — Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017 
 
 Essentially everybody involved appeared to believe, initially, that it was a joke, from the moment that Beatty — clearly flummoxed by having an envelope that read “Emma Stone” — tried to make sense of what had happened, only to have the crowd (and his co-presenter Dunaway) think he was unnecessarily prolonging the announcement, to the moment when Berger said, “By the way, we lost.” 
 
 PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that counts the Oscar ballots, issued a statement taking the blame for the mix-up: 
 
 We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. In what was was supposed to just be a memorable movie reunion, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway ended up fumbling the presentation of best picture, as they were apparently holding the best actress envelope instead. He added: "It was clear that there was something wrong. Think of everything that had to go wrong here: Not only did the wrong envelope have to be handed to Beatty and Dunaway, but it had to include the name of the one nominee in the Best Actress category who appeared in a film nominated for Best Picture. Moonlight won because it smartly ran all season long as the alternative to La La Land 
 
 With La La Land’s loss, one thing becomes clear: You don’t want to be the early Oscar frontrunner. When Rogen heads back to his seat, now wearing black shoes, someone asks, "What happened to the shoes?" It’s pretty remarkable.” 
 
 With the top honor yanked away from the frontrunner, La La Land ended the evening with six wins, Moonlight claimed three wins and Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester by the Sea took two awards. Affleck and Damon are the first to greet Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, best adapted screenplay winners for Moonlight.
– Bonnie and Clyde appear to be off the hook after the most shocking moment in Oscars history—the blunder that saw La La Land announced as Best Picture, only for Moonlight to be declared the real winner when the former film's producers had almost finished their speeches. Accounting firm PwC, which oversees the ballot-counting, says Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong category envelope. "We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred," the company formerly known as Price Waterhouse Coopers said in a statement to the AP, apologizing to the presenters, both movies, and Oscars viewers for the fiasco. A roundup of coverage: The Guardian has photos showing moment by moment how things went wrong. Beatty can be seen carrying the red envelope for "Actress in a Leading Role," which he opens, then hands to Dunaway. He later said he was confused because it said "Emma Stone: La La Land." She reads out the movie title. With the La La Land team on stage, Oscars overseers can be seen examining the envelope. USA Today reports that as the La La Land team went on stage, a PwC accountant backstage shouted "He took the wrong envelope!" and ran onstage. "I was ecstatic, it was amazing. I thought we won an Oscar," La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz tells the Hollywood Reporter. But then, "some guys in headsets started buzzing around. It became clear that something was wrong." The New York Times has a transcript of the chaotic minutes onstage. "I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from Moonlight," says Horowitz graciously. La La Land star Ryan Gosling could be seen apparently trying not to laugh during the mix-up, though the BBC's Martha Kearney says he had a "face like thunder" while waiting for a limo after the ceremony. This has never happened before in any category in Oscars history, Vox reports in a look at how PwC handles the envelopes—and at its procedure for handling mix-ups. "It was very quick, I can't talk about it. The card read that way. It was a very odd thing," Dunaway tells the Telegraph, adding: "It wasn't Warren's fault." La La Land star Stone told the media she was excited for Moonlight, which she considers one of the best movies of all time, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But she added: "I was also holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time. So whatever story, I don’t mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card." Variety notes that it was also a shock to many that Moonlight had won Best Picture at all, though it had won more best film prizes from critics groups than La La Land. It turns out there was a second big fail on Sunday night.