Mark Zimmer wrote…
In defense of Warren Beatty, my read (both at the time and on repeated viewing) of what he was trying to do was show Dunaway that there was a problem with the card, and she was so into the idea he was being a prankster that she didn't get that and just blurted out La-La Land, without registering that Emma Stone had apparently just won Best Picture.
I primarily blame the PWC dude tweeting pictures of Emma Stone instead of taking care of business, though. What a goober. You had one job, as they say.
I think what happened was that Beatty knew something was wrong and wasn't sharp enough at that moment to say, "Hey, I think someone gave me the wrong envelope." It's tough to say why that was. Certainly, that's a confusing place to be — onstage in front of Hollywood and the world with all the lights and music and a TelePrompter which is giving you what now may be the wrong command, which is to read what's on the card.
I would guess he was just plain afraid to do the wrong thing and momentarily wasn't sure what the right thing would be…so he showed the card to Ms. Dunaway. Maybe he was thinking she'd see what the problem was or maybe she'd have an idea what he should do. But she thought he was showing her the card so she could read the winning name and there before her eyes, it said "La-La Land." She didn't notice that it also said "Best Actress" and "Emma Stone." Her eyes were looking for the name of the movie and she spotted the name of the movie everyone expected to win…so she read that name.
I don't think she was at fault. Beatty arguably should have known what to do. It may well be that there was no one near him he could turn to…no host or stage manager nearby. (Jimmy Kimmel was seated out in the audience because he was going to do his closing lines sitting with Matt Damon.) But I don't think I would blame Beatty because he was probably just told to come out, read the Prompter, open the envelope, read what's in the envelope and get the hell outta the way. I doubt he was briefed on what to do in case of an emergency…and apparently, no one else was, either.
It does look bad for that gent from PriceWaterhouseCoopers…which seems to have embezzled the spaces between those names. Still, I think I'd like to hear his side of all this before we condemn him to a lifetime of scrubbing the floors at H&R Block…or wherever disgraced accountants wind up if there's no opening as Trump's Treasury Secretary.
And yes, I know we're devoting a lot more attention to this matter than it deserves…but isn't it a lot more fun than watching Donald dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and remove all constraints on duplicitous business dealings?