WASHINGTON — It was nowhere near as bad as "EnvelopeGate," but once again the best picture category at Sunday night's Oscars led to some awkwardness on stage and in the audience.
Legendary actor Al Pacino was the night's final presenter and seemed to fumble his way through his brief remarks. The "Godfather" star didn't read out the names of the ten nominees or say "And the Oscar goes to..." before announcing "Oppenheimer" as the winner.
"This is the time for the last award of the evening and it's my honor to present it," Pacino said after receiving a standing ovation as he walked on stage. "Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award for best picture. And I have to go to the envelope for that and I will. Here it comes. And my eyes see 'Oppenheimer,' yes, yes..."
The moment seemed to initially confuse many in the audience as the crowd response was rather muted until the orchestra started playing. The Oscars broadcast cut to a camera quickly moving up the aisle to capture the winners' reaction as they walked to the stage.
While it was an awkward way for the night to end, it was nowhere near as bad as when a mix up of envelopes at the 2017 Academy Awards led to "La La Land" being announced as best picture winners...until it was revealed from the stage that "Moonlight" had actually won.
One potential explanation for why things didn't seem to go as planned this time around is that Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer were reportedly supposed to present the category together as part of a "Scarface" reunion, according to EW and DEADLINE. The outlets cited sources saying Pfeiffer couldn't attend at the last minute due to personal family reasons.
