Moonves Calls Oscar Flub on ABC 'Shocking'

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CBS CEO Les Moonves said the snafu at the end of the Oscar broadcast on ABC Sunday night was "pretty shocking." Moonves was speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Monday and said he was at the Academy Award ceremony.

"We were halfway out of our seats," when it was announced that Moonlight had actually won the Best Picture award, after La La Land had been given the trophy by presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, he said.

"It's as big a screw up as I've ever seen," Moonves said. "All they have to do is give this guy an envelope, and they couldn't do it."

But he added that "they'll talk about this Academy Awards for the next 100 years."

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has accepted responsibility for giving the presenters an envelope with the winner of the wrong category during the award show.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.