‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ Linked to Leaked ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ Screener

This should make for an interesting joke during DeGeneres’ opening monologue at this year’s Oscars

A “Secret Life of Walter Mitty” screener that leaked online on Wednesday has been linked to this year’s Academy Awards host, Ellen DeGeneres.

After receiving a tip that the leaked screener was watermarked “Ellen DeGeneres,” Andy Baio — a Los Angeles-based computer programmer who tracks Oscar screener piracy statistics on his blog — found the video and created a GIF of the watermark that does, indeed, spell out DeGeneres’ name.

See video: Ellen DeGeneres Pays it Forward With Whopping $10K Tip to Waitress

The disc dated Nov. 26 appears less likely to be an Oscar screener and more likely to be a screener that 20th Century Fox sent the daytime talk show ahead of Ben Stiller‘s Dec. 4 appearance.

“Our show is sent advanced screeners of movies, sitcoms, reality shows, cds, etc. before guests appear on our show.  We do everything we can to protect the content and in 11 seasons nothing has ever leaked online from our show,” executive producers of “Ellen” said in a statement given to TheWrap. “We’re not sure if this leaked from our show or not, but we are doing everything we can to find out and to make sure it never happens again.”

“Walter Mitty” isn’t the only awards contender available to the masses for free. Baio noted Wednesday was “a busy day with screener copies,” as “Frozen,” “Her,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” all made their way to the web, as well.

Comments