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Oscars envelope handler responsible for Best Picture mix-up was ‘too busy tweeting’ to do their job properly

The accountant posted four since deleted tweets from the wings during the ceremony

Christopher Hooton
Tuesday 28 February 2017 10:16 GMT
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Oscars 2017: Watch the La La Land-Moonlight Best Picture error in full

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In an explanation at a lot of journalists can probably relate to, it appears the PricewaterhouseCooper accountant behind the La La Land-Moonlight Oscars mix-up might have been too busy tweeting to focus on what they were supposed to be doing.

Brian Cullinan, one of the two PWC partners holding the Oscar envelope-filled briefcases on Sunday night, was tweeting photos of Emma Stone backstage just minutes before he handed Warren Beatty the wrong Best Picture envelope.

His photo of Stone was one of four tweets he posted during the ceremony, according to Variety, which have since been deleted, suggesting perhaps that he wanted to give off the impression that he had been focusing on his one job for the evening.

L-R: PWC accounts Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, La La Land actor Ryan Gosling
L-R: PWC accounts Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, La La Land actor Ryan Gosling (Getty)
Cullinan's later deleted photo tweet
Cullinan's later deleted photo tweet

“Best Actress Emma Stone backstage! #PWC,” Cullinan tweeted, shortly before Beatty opened what he believed to be the Best Picture envelope and found it saying ‘Emma Stone - La La Land’.

Confused, he handed it to co-presenter Faye Dunaway, who immediately read out La La Land. The rest is - already - history.

Spare a thought for poor Brian.

“He feels very, very terrible and horrible,” Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner of PWC, told Variety.

“He is very upset about this mistake. And it is also my mistake, our mistake, and we all feel very bad.”

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