Shake it off! La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz was seen laughing along with the crowd as host Jimmy Kimmel joked about the 2017 Oscar’s Best Picture mix-up during the 2018 Oscars on Sunday, March 4.
“The very first Oscar ceremony was held right across the street at the Roosevelt Theatre back in 1929. At that Oscars, they gave out two awards for Best Picture, which is kind of what we did last year,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue.
The camera then cut to Horowitz, who chuckled in the audience. (Viewers will remember Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced La La Land was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards. The correct winner was Moonlight.)
“This year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away. Give us a minute,” he continued. “What happened last year was unfortunate. I’ve not told the story in public because I wanted to save it for tonight, but here’s what happened. This is true!”
Kimmel added, “Last year, about a week before the show, the producers asked me if I wanted to do some comedy with the accountants, I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’ So, the accountants went ahead and did comedy on their own. And I have to hand it to them, it was hilarious, but it won’t happen again.”
Horowitz broke the news to the crowd about the Oscar mix-up at the time: “There’s been a mistake. Moonlight, you won Best Picture. This is not a joke.”
