“Moonlight” won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, beating favorite “La La Land” for the movie industry’s most prestigious award.
But in a highly unusual mishap, presenter Warren Beatty first, mistakenly initially announced that musical “La La Land” had won, causing confusion and uproar on Hollywood’s biggest night. Beatty said he had been given the wrong envelope to open.
Emma Stone won best actress for the musical, and “Manchester by the Sea” star Casey Affleck was named best actor on a night where U.S. President Donald Trump was the butt of numerous jokes, capping a Hollywood awards season marked by fiery protests at his policies.
“La La Land” director Damien Chazelle, 32, became the youngest person to ever win a best director Oscar.
Viola Davis and Mahershala Ali won their first Oscars for their supporting roles in African-American stories “Fences” and “Moonlight,” in stark contrast to the 2016 Academy Awards when no actors of color were even nominated.
“Moonlight,” the coming of age tale of a young black boy in Miami, also won the best adapted screenplay statuette, while grief-driven independent drama “Manchester by the Sea” took home original screenplay.
Romantic musical “La La Land,” the tale of a struggling actress and a jazz pianist in Los Angeles, went into the Oscars with a leading 14 nominations and emerged with six, including for its score and theme song “City of Stars.”
Trump’s presence loomed large at the three and a half hour show as host Jimmy Kimmel fired off political zingers and even tweeted at the Republican president, getting no immediate response.