Brian Cullinan, PwC partner and leader of the accounting firm’s Oscar team for four years, has been identified as the lead culprit behind the biggest screw-up in Oscar history.
And it’s come to light that he tweeted a backstage photo of Emma Stone, newly-minted Oscar winner for “La La Land,” just moments before handing the wrong envelope to Best Picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
Dunaway notoriously read “La La Land” from the Best Actress card she had mistakenly been handed, instead of the actual winner, “Moonlight,” from the envelope that was still backstage with Cullinan.
Of course, you wouldn’t know about Cullinan’s starry distractions from his Twitter account currently, because its tweets end after Sunday afternoon.
But at least one screencap has survived of a Stone photo tweeted by Cullinan, and other Twitter users have upbraided him for what they described as a series of celebrity tweets during the show.
Cullinan has been working for PwC (the firm formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers) for more than 30 years, and has been one of the leaders of the Oscar team for four years.
The Academy’s accountants at PwC have issued no comment beyond an official apology sent late Sunday night promising to investigate the Oscars envelope flub to determine “how this could have happened.”