While everyone on stage looked distraught during the Oscars Best Picture mishap when “La La Land” was erroneously crowned the winner, Ryan Gosling was seen laughing. Now, he’s explained why.
“What really was happening as I was watching, it was surreal anyway, I was watching people start to have this panicked reaction in the crowd and guys were coming on with headsets and I felt like someone had been hurt,” Gosling said while speaking at the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, according to Entertainment Tonight. “I thought there was some kind of medical situation, and I had this worst case scenario playing out in my head.”
He continued, “And then I just heard, ‘Oh ‘Moonlight’ won,’ and I was so relieved that I started laughing. But truthfully, I was also so thrilled that ‘Moonlight’ won, I know the director…I’ve worked with them before. It’s such a ground breaking film, made for a million dollars, and incredible achievement and I’m so happy for them that they were being recognized.”
During the Academy Awards in February, co-presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner for Best Picture. “Moonlight” ultimately took home the big prize of the night. The mistake came to light after three “La La Land” producers had already given their acceptance speeches, with the cast on stage.
PwC, the accounting firm which counts the Oscar ballots and has control of the winning envelopes, issued a statement accepting responsibility for giving the wrong envelope to the presenters.
