The Oscars 'Steve Harvey' moment: 'Moonlight' beats 'La La Land'

In a shocking, yet humorous twist, Moonlight won the Best Picture award at the 89th Academy Awards, when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway somehow pulled a 'Steve Harvey', leading the La La Land team to troop off the stage. Check out the video at the end.

 

 

The Oscars 2017 ceremony was held Monday morning at 6:30 AM Pakistan time, and the results were impressive.

 

(L-R) Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali, Best Actress Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actress Viola Davis, and Best Actor Casey Affleck hold their Oscars. Hollywood, California, US. 26/02/17. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

 

Major awards and diversity

Denzel Washington, who many were rooting for, for his portrayal of a responsible but strict father in Fences lost to Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) as the Best Actor. Emma Stone was named the Best Actress for her role in La La Land.

For the Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role sections, Mahershala Ali and Viola Davis secured victory for starring in Moonlight and Fences, respectively.

This makes a major mark against last year's Oscars, wherein no artists of colour were nominated.

Moonlight producer Adele Romanski said she hoped the movie would inspire "little black boys and brown girls and other folks watching at home who feel marginalised," according to Reuters.

Also read: Are the Oscars still 'so white' in 2017?

La La Land bagged yet another award for Best Direction – by Damien Chazelle.

Other film categories and politics

Zootopia won as the Best Animated Feature Film, while O.J.: Made in America topped in the Best Feature Documentary category.

With regard to Short Subject Documentary group, Netflix’s The White Helmets turned out to be the victor, while The Salesman beat its competitors in the Best Foreign Film.

Related: Why The White Helmets documentary team was absent from Oscars?

Notably, non-US national members of both movies’ teams were not present at the glitzy event due to US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. They even waited at the airport for three days, according to their statements on Twitter.

Sing and Piper were The Academy’s choice for Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film, respectively.

Reuters adds:

"Earlier in the show, Trump had been the butt of numerous jokes, capping an awards season marked by fiery protests by celebrities at his policies. Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel fired off political zingers and even tweeted at the Republican president, getting no immediate response. Several celebrities wore blue ribbons on Sunday in support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy group that worked to get Trump's bid to ban travellers from seven majority Muslim nations blocked in US courts. But for the most part, speeches at the ceremony were mild or made general pleas for tolerance rather than directly attacking Trump."

Recognition of the teams

 

 

Winners of other categories are as follows:

Cinematography: La La Land

Music – Original Score: La La Land

Music – Original Song: 'City Of Stars' (La La Land)

Writing – Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight

Writing – Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea

Film Editing: Hacksaw Ridge

Visual Effects: The Jungle Book

Sound Editing: Arrival

Sound Mixing: Hacksaw Ridge

Production Design: La La Land

Make-up and Hairstyling: Suicide Squad

Costume Design: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

 

WATCH: Moment where crew/cast of 'La La Land' realizes a mistake had been made and 'Moonlight' actually won Best Picture. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/WCCopwsJ66

— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 27, 2017

 

UPDATE [AFP, 1:51 PM]: PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm responsible for tabulating Oscar ballots, apologised for an "error" in the announcement of the best picture award Sunday, admitting Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope.

"We sincerely apologise 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," the company said in a statement.

"The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and, when discovered, was immediately corrected," it added.

"We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred."