What in the World Happened at the Oscars Last Night?

So everyone is still buzzing about the "false finish" at the Oscars last night, where Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, announcing the Best Picture-winning film, mistakenly announced "La La Land" as the winner, only to reverse course as the producers were giving their speeches, and announce that "Moonlight" actually won Best Picture.

It was certainly one of the wildest endings to the broadcast in history, and while "La La Land" producer Jordan Hororwitz was conciliatory and frank in congratulating "Moonlight," it was almost certain to cause a few hurt feelings, not to mention deny "Moonlight" its just due in the wake of such a startling botch. Luckily host Jimmy Kimmel was able to help smooth things over. Hopefully next year's host won't have to worry about another mistake like that.

So how does this happen? In this case Warren Beatty is taking a lot of heat he probably doesn't deserve. After all, he was right there at the forefront, explaining himself profusely on the spot, when he didn't even read the card. Beatty opened the envelope, looked at it (drawing laughs from the crowd, who believed he was pausing playfully for dramatic effect), then handed the card to Dunaway, who blurted out " 'La La Land!' " without a second look and quickly bolted the stage. Note she was nowhere to be found during the correction while Beatty stood before millions watching.

His explanation: The envelope he was handling contained the card that announced Emma Stone as Best Actress for "La La Land," which had occurred minutes earlier. There are apparently at least two copies of each envelope, and Beatty was simply handed the wrong one before he went out onstage.

Still, it was riveting to watch (and re-watch), as "La La Land" producers gave their speech while behind-the-scenes crew scrambled around, talking to the people on the stage and watching their faces. Also interesting was watching the faces in the crowd, and seeing the explosion of applause when Horowitz announced "Moonlight" truly won. Of course, at first it was believed that he was merely lauding "Moonlight" as the "true" winner, as a sign of respect, but the applause returned after the dust settled, so to speak.

Also, largely lost in this big-time controversy was another gaffe in what was otherwise an unoffensive, typical Oscars broadcast: During the "In Memoriam" segment honoring those who passed away during the previous year, Janet Patterson, a producer who is still very much alive, was memorialized. Jan Patterson, a costume designer who passed away in September, was the intended recipient — another accidental, albeit unfortunate, development that marred the ceremony.