The 96th Academy Awards felt like a true celebration. The show was packed with memorable moments, from Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s first Oscar win (which moved everyone to tears) to Ryan Gosling’s electrifying performance of I’m Just Ken, accompanied by Slash on guitar. But that’s not all, this year’s Oscars have also introduced some big changes.
These shifts came after the highlight of the long 2017 Oscars, which turned into a disaster when they announced that La La Land had won Best Picture instead of Moonlight.
This one mistake damaged the reputation of the prestigious awards, which have been around for almost a century. But after the mix-up at the 89th Academy Awards, the organizers have now made big changes to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Oscars’ 96-Year Legacy Stained by La La Land Fiasco in 2017
At the 89th Academy Awards in 2017, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty walk onto the stage from behind to announce the winner for Best Picture. Beatty begins to read the winner’s card but appears confused. He checks inside the envelope to see if there’s anything else.
The uncertain Beatty then passes the card to Dunaway. Without realizing anything is wrong, the Bonnie and Clyde star reads out the only film title she can see, which is La La Land!
While Mark Platt (co-producer) gives his thank-you speech, a staff member takes back the envelopes that have been given to La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger. At this point, the La La Land team realizes they didn’t actually win. Berger takes the mic and gives a speech anyway, ending with “We lost.”
no oscar moment will ever beat watching this in real time #Oscars pic.twitter.com/pyJ9S9zbbj
— chu (@THEHORRORGOTH) March 10, 2024
Beatty got the correct card, and Horowitz showed it, announcing Moonlight as the winner. The Moonlight team moved forward and then Beatty went up front to tell Jimmy Kimmel (host) and the La La Land team what went wrong.
He said that the card he had been given, read (via Oscars),“Emma Stone, La La Land. I wasn’t trying to be funny.” It was definitely a huge blunder that had never occurred in the 88-year history of the Oscars.
Oscars’ Smart Changes Following La La Land Gaffe
To enhance clarity and prevent errors, the Oscars have introduced several changes. These changes are meant to make the winner announcement card less confusing and error-prone.
them adding the category at the top, putting the name in bold, AND changing the font size 😭😭 https://t.co/7lCfRnJM1v
— jay (@kendallhosseini) March 11, 2024
Category at the Top: Firstly, they have put the category name at the top now. This way, when someone announce nominees or winners, it’s clear which award they’re talking about. This helps prevent confusion and mistakes.
Bolded Names: Now, the names of nominees or winners will be shown in bold. Bold text stands out more, making it easier for the announcer to see the important details first.
Larger Font Size: They’ve increased the font size for displaying category names and the names of nominees or winners.
La La Land and Moonlight are both available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
