Security boosted for accountants in Oscar gaffe who froze backstage

Security has been stepped up for the two accountants responsible for botching the Oscar best picture announcement, their company said on Thursday, as the ceremony's stage manager revealed the pair had to be pushed onstage to set things right after the gaffe.

'I still do not understand the delay,' says Oscars stage manager

Thomson Reuters Posted: Mar 03, 2017 10:03 AM EST | Last Updated: March 3, 2017

PwC accountant Brian Cullinan is seen at left alongside the Oscar night stage manager Gary Natoli, centre, and best picture presenter Warren Beatty. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Security has been stepped up for the two accountants responsible for botching the Oscarbest picture announcement, their company said on Thursday, asthe ceremony's stage manager revealed the pair had to be pushedonstage to set things right after the gaffe.

Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said securitywas provided at the homes of Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruizfollowing Sunday's blunder, in which an envelope mix-up led tothe announcement of the wrong film as best picture winner duringthe live TV broadcast.

A Hollywood twist ending: Moonlight wins best picture after La La Land mix-up

PwC said it had hired security for the accountants behind the fiasco, Martha L. Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, seen here on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

PwC gave no details but celebrity websiteTMZ.com said thepair had received death threats on social media and that photosof their homes had been posted online.

Cullinan, who posted a now-deleted backstage photo of EmmaStone on Twitter just before the gaffe, andRuizwere barred onWednesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesfrom taking part in the Oscars ceremony or ballot counting everagain.

Oscar show stage manager Gary Natolitold Hollywood website TheWrap that the two had frozen backstage when things went wrongduring the climax of Sunday's ceremony.

Oscars explainer: How do presenters get the winner envelopes?

Natolisaid he was standing nearRuizwhen actors Warren Beatty andFayeDunawayincorrectly announced on stage thatmusical La La Landhad won the top award for best picture.The winner of best picture was African-American independentfilm, Moonlight.

Beatty, seen at right with Dunaway on Oscar night, had paused and looked puzzled when he first opened the envelope. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

"We watched for about 10 more seconds, and during thatentire time, Martha was no more than five feet away from us.WhenLaLaLandwas announced, she did not try to get myattention, she did not say anything. And she's supposed to have memorized the winners," Natoli told TheWrap.

More than a minute passed before Cullinan said backstagethat something was wrong.

Backstage crew were "trying to get Brian to go onstage and he wouldn't go,"Natolisaid.

"And Marthawouldn'tgo. We had topush them onstage, which was just shocking to me."

"I still do not understand the delay," Natolisaid. "Brianshould have run out there on his own. Martha should have run outthere."

La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz brandishes the envelope and card revealing Moonlight as the true winner of best picture at the Oscars on Sunday, as presenter Warren Beatty looks on from right. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press)

Natolialso blamed smaller, less legible writing on thewinner envelopes.

"We know that Brian was taking pictures backstage when heshould not have been, and not paying attention... And there wasthe new design of the envelope, which we had complained about tothe Academy," Natolisaid.

PwC, which has overseen Oscar balloting for 83 years, saidon Thursday the two accountants were still employed by thecompany.

Natoli also blamed a new design for the Oscar envelopes, which featured tiny gold print on red envelopes that were not as clearly legible as in previous years. Brie Larson, left, is seen backstage being handed the best actor envelope by Cullinan. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)

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Security boosted for accountants in Oscar gaffe who froze backstage

'I still do not understand the delay,' says Oscars stage manager

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