Acceptance speech, interrupted: a history of awards-show gaffes

The best picture blunder, in which the highly coveted Oscar on Sunday evening was mistakenly handed to La La Land before being awarded to Moonlight, was an embarrassing error fit for the Hollywood history books.

But it wasn't by any means without precedent — in fact, awards shows have long been littered with such incidents. Envelopes have been swapped, winners have been named in error, and nominees mistakenly honoured.

Here's a look back at a selection of some cringe-worthy gaffes made at awards shows.

'Warren, what did you do?'

The producers of La La Land were in the middle of delivering their acceptance speeches having claimed best picture at the Academy Awards Sunday night, when in a stunning turn of events, the highly coveted award was handed over to the makers of Moonlight.

Host Jimmy Kimmel teased presenter Warren Beatty, asking him, "Warren, what did you do?" as the makers of La La Land stepped aside. Beatty had paused when he opened the envelope in a moment of confusion before his co-presenter Faye Dunaway announced La La Land the winner.

"Very clearly, even in my dreams, this could not be true," said Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight, as he took the microphone to accept the award. "But to hell with dreams — I'm done with it, because this is true."

The accounting firm PwC, which oversees the counting of the ballots, has apologized for the blunder that was captured on live television and broadcast around the globe.

Another error was made during the In Memoriam montage, in which a photo of Australian film producer Jan Chapman, who is alive and well, was shown.

And the nominees aren't …

When the Academy announced the roster of 2017 nominees in January, they had too many people listed in the best actor and actress categories on their official website.

Amy Adams for Arrival and Annette Bening for 20th Century Women were listed as nominees vying for the best actress trophy. Tom Hanks, for Sully, was also mistakenly named as a best actor nominee. The Academy apologized for their error.

'Horrible mistake, but the right thing'

Miss Universe host Steve Harvey in 2015 mistakenly named Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo the winner before handing the crown over to Pia Wurtzbach, Miss Philippines.

"Horrible mistake, but the right thing," Harvey said during the broadcast, realizing his error. "I can show it to you right here. The first runner-up is Colombia."

Harvey later explained the gaffe as a human error and the producers of the show apologized for the mistake, saying these kinds of incidents sometimes happen during live telecasts.

Wrong envelope error

Presenter Aisha Tyler was also handed the wrong envelope at the 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards, but she quickly realized the error.

"Oh, interestingly enough this winner is not in this category," she said. "If I read it out I'm going to give another category away."

Tyler filled time making jokes, as another envelope was rushed to the stage.

Counting error in Cannes

Pop star Katy Perry in 2009 was given the award for best international song at France's NRJ Music Awards for her song I Kissed A Girl.

But at the end of the evening, host Nikos Aliagas announced that a counting error had been made and the award would actually be given to Rihanna for her song Disturbia.

Two Franks, one Oscar

Director Frank Capra, seen at far right in this photo taken at the 1938 Academy Awards, in 1934 rushed to collect the award for best director after presenter Will Rogers opened the envelope and declared, "Come up and get it, Frank!"

But there were two Franks nominated, Capra for Lady for a Day and Frank Lloyd for Cavalcade. The trophy was awarded to Lloyd. 

Capra later described the humiliating experience of returning to his seat, empty-handed as "the longest, saddest, most shattering walk in my life. I wished I could have crawled under the rug like a miserable worm. When I slumped in my chair I felt like one. All my friends at the table were crying."

The next year, Capra collected the best director Oscar for It Happened One Night.