At first, everyone thought it was a joke. There is no other way to explain why there were two envelopes on stage announcing the best picture Oscar for 2017. It was so impossible.
I realised something had gone wrong pretty quickly – I could see people running around in my periphery and I could hear people talking, and behind me, [La La Land star] Emma Stone was whispering something. I saw Warren Beatty coming across the stage and I remember him holding up an envelope. I went over. Then another guy came over and I showed him the envelope. Lots of envelopes flying around. At that point everyone was like: “Oh. Shit.” I just knew it needed to be fixed. Right then, I saw the cameraman and so I just locked my eyes on him, just looked right at him and thought, “I really hope you know what to do now.” Luckily, he quickly zoomed in on the envelope, really fast. He totally nailed it.
After the shock died down, plenty of people said Moonlight didn’t get to have its moment because of what happened. A lot of people reached out to me, too, and they were angry. And I’m like – you should rage! But Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director, and I have talked about it a lot, about how we can look at it.To me, being able to hand him the award, to be able to demonstrate that seminal moment was a formative thing. I’ve always tried to be politically active on social media, but it was only after this that people actually starting listening to me. I don’t care what other people say: representation and diversity really matter, I’ve learned that here. The industry has been damaged.
Right now, in the wake of all the Weinstein revelations, we are in a moment where no one knows which way is north. This is a terrifying moment. A lot of people in Hollywood are talking about change, which is good, but I don’t know if people are actually doing it yet. Asking people to give up power is inherently tough. People are clinging to an old system to prove that it works.
As for the accountant from PriceWaterhouseCoopers who handed Beatty the wrong envelope, I vaguely remember seeing him on the red carpet before the awards, but I didn’t try to find him afterwards. They rang me the next day, we had a quick conversation, but that was it. The person I was looking for was the cameraman, to thank him, but I couldn’t find him. A year on, I’m still, like: “Wow. That actually happened.” I can sort of laugh about it now.
As told to Morwenna Ferrier
