The two accountants found at fault for botching the climactic announcement of the winner for best picture at the Academy Awards have been officially declared unfit for any future Oscar duty, organisers of the ceremony have said.

Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, blamed for the envelope mix-up that led La La Land being erroneously named best film before Moonlight was declared the actual winner, are still employed as partners of the prestigious accounting firm. But the pair will no longer be permitted to tabulate Oscar votes or hand out envelopes containing winners’ names at Hollywood’s highest honours, a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences said.

PwC, the overseer of Oscar balloting for 83 years, had earlier taken full responsibility for Sunday’s unprecedented gaffe, which stunned the star-studded Dolby Theatre crowd in Hollywood and a live television audience of millions worldwide.

PwC said Cullinan had mistakenly handed best-picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the back-up envelope for best actress in a leading role, an award bestowed on Emma Stone for La La Land a short time earlier.

Beatty, admittedly befuddled at seeing the card he pulled from the envelope, hesitated for several moments before handing it to Dunaway, who immediately announced La La Land as the winner.

Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough

The La La Land cast and producers were already on stage giving acceptance speeches when the mistake was recognised, leaving it to the musical’s producer, Jordan Horowitz, to interrupt the proceedings with the announcement that Moonlight really had won.

“Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Cullinan or his partner,” the accounting firm said in a statement.

A day after the incident, the Academy apologised to all affected, including presenters Beatty and Dunaway, and said it would “determine what actions are appropriate going forward”.

This wasn’t the only apology that took place after the ceremony, however. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologised to the Australian film producer it incorrectly showed during the Oscars in Memoriam reel.

Producer Jan Chapman said she was “devastated” after her photograph was wrongly used to represent her late friend, Australian costume designer Janet Patterson.

The film academy said in a statement: “We sincerely apologise to producer Jan Chapman, whose photo was mistakenly used in the Oscars in Memoriam tribute for her colleague and dear friend, the late Janet Patterson.

“Janet, an Academy member and four-time Oscar-nominated costume designer, was beloved in our community.

“We extend our deepest apologies and condolences to the Patterson family.”

The academy also updated the In Memoriam reel on the website for the Oscars.

Patterson died in October 2016. She and Chapman worked together on the film The Piano.

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