Moonlight, an evocative coming of age story about a young gay black man, won best picture at the 2017 Oscars but was almost denied its victory in chaotic scenes when the award was mistakenly given to La La Land.
At the end of a politically charged ceremony in which Donald Trump was the subject of frequent jokes by host Jimmy Kimmel, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that La La Land had won. But as the producers and cast of Damien Chazelle’s modern musical were on stage giving emotional thank you speeches, they were told that Moonlight was the real winner.
PwC, the accountancy firm that has been responsible for counting Oscars votes for 80 years and ensuring that the correct envelopes are handed to presenters, swiftly apologised to the films, the presenters and the audience for giving the prize announcement for the wrong category to Beatty and Dunaway.