The two accountants blamed for one of the biggest, and most embarrassing, moments in the Oscar history have been officially declared unfit for duty.

Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, partners at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, are now barred from helping out with Oscar votes, and from handing out envelopes containing the winning names.

A mix-up of those all-important cards caused a massive blunder on Sunday night, as La La Land was incorrectly named best picture.

The cast and producers were half way through their acceptance speeches before the mistake emerged and Moonlight crowned instead.

For 83 years PwC has overseen balloting for the Academy Awards - Hollywood's highest honours.

The firm took full responsibility for the blunder, widely blamed on backstage distractions.

Cullinan was found to have posted a photo of actress Emma Stone on Twitter just minutes before the mistake.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.