Emma Stone insists she "had the card" which named her as an Oscar winner.
Chaos occurred at Sunday (26.02.17) evening’s Academy Awards ceremony when ‘La La Land’ was mistakenly named as the Best Picture winner instead of ‘Moonlight’ and presenter Warren Beatty explained he and Faye Dunaway had been handed an envelope with the 28-year-old star’s name listed, leading to the confusion.
However, Best Actress winner Emma said: "I was holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time.
"So whatever story – I don’t mean to start stuff – but whatever story that was, I had the card. So, I’m not sure what happened. And I really wanted to talk to you guys first."
Despite the disappointment, Emma – who starred in the Damien Chazelle-directed film alongside Ryan Gosling – insisted she was thrilled ‘Moonlight’ had taken Best Picture because she "f***ing loved" the film "so much".
Speaking backstage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, she said: "I f**ing loved ‘Moonlight’. God, I love ‘Moonlight’ so much! I’m so excited for ‘Moonlight’!
"And, of course, it was an amazing thing to hear ‘La La Land’. I think we all would have loved to win Best Picture.
"But we are so excited for ‘Moonlight’. I think it is one of the best films of all time. So I was pretty beside myself."
After getting on stage to accept the Best Picture award, the ‘La La Land’ team were told: "I’m sorry, no, there’s a mistake. This is not a joke, ‘Moonlight’ has won Best Picture. This is not a joke. Moonlight has won Best Picture."
Warren then said: "This is not a joke, I’m afraid I read the wrong thing."
Host Jimmy Kimmel then took to the stage and said: "This is very unfortunate what happened. I would like to see you get an Oscar anyway, why can’t we just give out a whole bunch?"
Warren had taken some time to read out the winner and explained he had been given the wrong envelope.
He said: "I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, ‘La La Land’ – that’s why I took such a long look at you and Faye.
"I wasn’t trying to be funny."
He then re-presented the prize to ‘Moonlight’ but director Barry Jenkins appeared too stunned by the turn of events to give a proper speech.
Emma Stone addresses Best Picture controversy
