Entertainment

Accountants in Oscar flub off the show, says Academy president

The president of the film academy says the two accountants responsible for the best-picture flub at Sunday's Academy Awards will never return to the Oscar show.

Academy also offers belated apology for In Memoriam error

PwC said it had hired security for the accountants behind the fiasco, Martha L. Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, seen here on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

The president of the film academy says the two accountants responsible for the best-picture flub at Sunday's Academy Awards will never return to the Oscar show.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs tells The Associated Press that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' relationship with PwC, the accounting firm responsible for the integrity of the awards, remains under review.

PwC partner Brian Cullinan snapped and tweeted a photo of Oscar-winner Emma Stone from backstage, where he was to have been focused on handing out envelopes to the Academy Award presenters. (Twitter)

Boone Isaacs broke her silence Wednesday following the biggest blunder in the 89-year history of the Academy Awards.

PwC accountants Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz were responsible for the winners' envelopes at Sunday's Oscar show.

It was revealed Cullinan was distracted during his backstage duties, snapping and tweeting a photo of best actress winner Emma Stone from backstage around the time he handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the incorrect envelope for best picture.

Boone Isaacs said Cullinan's distraction caused the error.

Another apology

The academy also apologized to the Australian movie producer it incorrectly showed during Sunday's Oscars in memoriam reel. 

In a statement Wednesday, the film academy extended "our deepest apologies" to producer Jan Chapman, whose photo was mistakenly used in the tribute instead of Chapman's colleague and friend, the late Janet Patterson. Chapman had said she was "devastated" by the error.

Patterson, an Australian costume designer and four-time Oscar nominee (The PianoBright Star), passed away in October last year. Patterson and Chapman worked together on The Piano. The academy also updated the in memoriam reel on the website for the Oscars.