Although it's not typically a riveting piece of television, this year's Oscars did give us something discussion-worthy beyond who wore what on the red carpet: In a blunder that you'd have to be avoiding the internet to have missed by now, the wrong winner was announced for Best Picture.
And not with an instant, "Woops, nevermind"...the poor movie producers (ok maybe poor isn't the right word) were actually on-stage delivering acceptance speeches when staffers came to pull them off and correct the mistake!
It was quickly revealed that PwC, one of the "Big Four" accounting firms, is responsible for tabulating and delivering Academy Awards voting results. And, that this wasn't a calculation error but a simple mistake of handing over the wrong envelope. Ouch.
Mistakes happen, and sometimes BIG mistakes happen. What matters is your response. PwC's U.S. chairman Tim Ryan took the lead for this one, and I was impressed. A quote from the NY Times coverage of the crisis really caught my eye:
"What was going though my head at the time was, 'We have to get to the bottom of this, and if we made a mistake, we'll own up to it,'" Mr. Ryan said. "My philosophy in life is, bad news doesn't age well."
The cause of the problem was known rapidly, nothing was hurt beyond pride, no lasting damage was done, and nobody's daily lives were disrupted. This is prime circumstance for a quick recovery and PwC pounced on the opportunity. Ryan shared similar sentiments with the press throughout the night and next day, and PwC also published a statement which was shared widely:
We sincerely apologize to "Moonlight," "La La Land," Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.
We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.
---PwC
The Academy's copyright enforcement makes it difficult for video of the event to live on via YouTube as well, meaning I expect this crisis to "go away" before long.
Just a Thought:
"Bad news doesn't age well." - Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman PwC
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