Oscar blunder makes 2017 Academy Awards ending awkward

By Chris Stouffer


If you missed the 2017 Academy Awards on Sunday night, by now you must have heard about heard about the biggest mistake in awards show history since Steve Harvey's 2015 Miss Universe slip-up.

Actors Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty took the stage to announce the final Oscar winner of the evening for best picture. At first it seemed like playful banter between the two as Beatty pulled the card from the envelope, hesitated for a moment, then looked inside the envelope again as if confused. Dunaway even laughs at him assuming he's playing the audience as she tells him, "You're awful." Dunaway laughs and takes the card announcing La La Land the winner.

As the acceptance speeches began, cast and crew on stage began moving about in confusion. Something happened, but nobody said anything until producer Fred Berger in the middle of his speech announced, "We lost by the way." It was then that even the audience knew there was a problem.

Moments later producer Jordan Horowitz announces there's been a mistake and that Moonlight won best picture. Silence fell over the audience for a brief moment. When Beatty and host Jimmy Kimmel attempted to clear things up, in what almost turned into a rehash of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with Kanye West storming the stage like a mad man during Taylor Swift's win, producer Horowitz literally forced the card from Beatty's hand, holding it up for the audience and viewers at home of proof that Moonlight won.

The Washington Post called the incident the most shocking moment in Oscars history. In the video which has gone viral, Beatty attempts to explain why he seemed so confused. According to Beatty the card he was given read: "Emma Stone, La La Land." But in another twist of events, the Post reported that backstage Stone said she was holding her best actress card the entire time she was on stage with the rest of her cast and crew.

Although both crews took it seemingly well, it was apparent Horowitz wasn't going to let it sit lightly with him. Of course everyone wants an explanation, but don't shoot the messenger quite yet, Jordan. Award officials are investigating how the error occurred. Meanwhile, if you missed it, you can relive the moment again in this ABC 7 New York video clip. I still however contend that the biggest Oscars mistake last night was Dakota Johnson's head-to-toe look, while Emma Stone nailed it.

For a complete list of 2017 Oscar winners and nominees, check out the Los Angeles Times website or go to my page at facebook.com/thegossipguy!

The pointlessness of disliking someone you don't know

By Chris Stouffer


Have you ever disliked someone whom you really didn't know on a personal level, or hated (such a strong word) someone at a retail store, restaurant, office, etc. for the simple fact that they made a horrible first impression on you? I have. And although I've heard in the past it's useless being angry with someone because usually your friends could care less, and the person you hold that anger toward doesn't even know it, I was recently reminded of how true that is.

When I made the decision to go to grad school, I checked out a certain private institution, based on the fact that it was close to home, and it was technically the first school I applied to as an undergrad, yet opted to go elsewhere. As I was driving by one day, suddenly I found myself in the parking lot and in the admissions office of this university.

Ok, so I didn't have an appointment, but it seemed slow in the office, therefore I figured it was ok to stop by and speak with an advisor about the program I wished to pursue. The advisor assigned to me was short with her words, quick to answer (and not in detail), and overall seemed very uninterested in me taking her time. You better believe for the next eight years I talked so much smack about this woman. I even ran into her at a social function we both attended almost four years later and was just disappointed to be sharing the same space with her.

Recently I bumped into a long-tieme friend of mine who happened to know this woman. In fact he worked with her at one point. When I mentioned her name he simply laughed. He remembered my dislike toward her, but couldn't remember the reason (remember, most of the time your friends don't care that you hate someone you don't know - case in point).

He asked me to refresh his memory as to why I was bitter toward this person. When I rehashed my drama, he laughed and basically gave me a pat on the back. "Oh Christopher," he said to me. "She wasn't even a graduate admissions counselor. She was an undergrad admissions counselor. She probably didn't seem fully invested in your meeting because she didn't have the answers you were looking for and she wasn't familiar with the graduate programs."

Honestly, I was taken back for a second. I realized all that energy I spent disliking her for really no good reason at all, and the breath I used to repeat this story over and over again to friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends. For what? She never knew I disliked her, I'm certain she didn't remember me after I left that office, and to top it off, my friend tells me what a fun person she was, which had I taken the time to socialize with her at earlier said function, I may have realized.

So the point I'm attempting to make in my pointless dislike toward this unknowing individual is that it makes no sense to dislike someone whom you haven't even given a chance to know (or even met for that matter) if you're basing this dislike on that first impression. You don't know the situation that person has been put in unless you ask or at least attempt to ask the right questions first.