The two accountants responsible for the Oscars gaffe, which saw the Best Picture award mistakenly given to the wrong film, will not work for the Academy Awards again, it has been confirmed.
The president of the film academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, told The AP Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz will not resume their duties of tallying the Oscars votes and handing out the envelopes at future ceremonies.
She claimed the focus on the last 90 seconds of the ceremony “angered her” and “moved to the side the brilliance of the day”.
“They have one job to do. One job to do! Obviously there was a distraction,” she said, adding the Academy were also unsure if they would continue their 83-year working relationship with the pair’s employers, accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The blunder saw Best Picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunnaway mistakenly award the gong to ‘La La Land’. It was only revealed halfway through producer Jordan Horowitz’s acceptance speech that ‘Moonlight’ had actually won the award.
It later transpired that Brian and Martha had handed Warren and Faye a back-up envelope for the Best Actress category, which had ‘La La Land’ star Emma Stone’s name on, leading to the confusion.
Reports have claimed Brian tweeted (and later deleted) a photo of Emma backstage with her Oscar, just moments before he gave out the wrong envelope.
PwC previously issued a full apology following the cock up, saying in a statement: “We are deeply sorry for the disappointment suffered by the cast and crew of ‘La La Land’ and ‘Moonlight’. We sincerely apologize to Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and the Academy, none of whom was at fault for last night’s errors. We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to each of them for the graciousness they displayed during such a difficult moment.
“For the past 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC with the integrity of the awards process during the ceremony, and last night we failed the Academy.”
The company also told NBC News Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz will keep their regular jobs with them.
Meanwhile, Warren Beatty has voiced his dissatisfaction with the official statements about the matter.