Washington – The two PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants responsible for the humiliating mix-up at the Academy Awards on Sunday will never return to the show, an Academy spokeswoman confirmed to dpa on Wednesday.
Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz mixed up the winners’ envelopes at the end of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, resulting in the erroneous announcement that “La La Land” had won the Best Picture award when the real winner was “Moonlight.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers apologized Monday for what is sure to go down in history as one of the most embarrassing moments at the Oscars. The accountants’ mistake was to the wrong envelope to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
Cullinan and Ruiz are high-ranking executives at PricewaterhouseCoopers. They will remain partners in the firm but will no longer be on its Oscar team, according to news reports. Cullinan served on the accounting firm’s balloting team since 2014. Ruiz served as the team’s co-leader since 2015.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has handled the Academy balloting for 83 years.
-dpa
