Academy Reportedly Considers Hiring More Oscar Auditors as Soon as They Stop Analyzing This Guy‘s Tweet
Perhaps even more incredible than Envelopegate is how quickly the whole thing escalated, and our collective fascination with what instantly (and maybe inarguably) became the most memorable Oscar moment of all time. (To be fair, America was in desperate need of a distraction.) Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty’s Best Picture envelope mixup is the best-worst thing to happen to the Oscars in years, but it’s not a mistake they’re eager to repeat; according to a new report, they’re considering a possible solution, which they’ll get around to as soon as they finish exhaustively scrutinizing this tweet.
That’s not (entirely) a joke: According to Deadline’s source, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has been looking at a tweet sent out by PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor Brian Cullinan just moments before he handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty:
Another person said Academy officials are looking hard at the Emma Stone tweet posted by PwC auditor Brian Cullinan just before Dunaway announced the wrong best picture winner. The review, which has been a nonstop process since Sunday night, should make clear whether there was indeed a policy violation, and, if so, what might be done about it.
A nonstop process! They’ve been analyzing this guy’s (understandably) since-deleted tweet for two days now? What are they hoping to find in there?
Let’s take a closer look:
Who is this mysterious woman in the background who appears to be staring directing into the camera (and my soul)? Maybe she’s the mastermind behind this whole thing. Has anyone done a background check to see if she’s related to Damien Chazelle? Wait a minute…
If you look even closer, you’ll see that she’s sporting a mustache and goatee — the same mustache and goatee Chazelle was wearing at the Oscars that night. That’s not an innocent bystander. That’s Damien Chazelle!
Anyhow. Once the Academy gets this whole tweet investigation squared away, they’re reportedly weighing their options — one possibility is adding a second set of auditors; essentially, each PwC auditor would have their own auditor (or babysitter) to double-check the envelopes before the presenter(s) take the stage…thereby freeing up the first set of auditors to get totally lit at the open bar without fear of reprisal.