The two PwC partners responsible for the Oscars 2017 mistake were fired from the Oscars engagement today. It’s crazy that this happened today in the light of some new facts that just came out.

Brian Cullinan, the lead PwC partner on the Oscars engagement, had a couple terrible paparazzi-like photos come out today. In the accounting industry, the pictures would be seen as terrible. In the entertainment business, any press is good press.

The one positive that Brian can take away from this whole experience is that he is now closer to being a celebrity. He has to be the first PwC partner to appear on TMZ.  I think that is what he wanted though. I think Brian wanted to become a celebrity. His wish came true — just not in the manner he thought it would.

These photos showed Brian backstage with his phone in his hand tweeting about Emma Stone. In these photos you can also see Brian holding multiple envelopes and not paying attention to what he’s doing.

Depending on which website you go to he was told different things. TMZ has a source that said Mr. Cullinan was told it was okay to tweet during the Oscars. They didn’t say whether it was okay for him to Tweet backstage on TMZ. Another website had the Academy Awards saying that tweeting backstage was a big no-no.

 

What did the Brian Cullinan backstage photos reveal?

 

 

9:03 PM – Now what it looks like is that at about 9:03  PM Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway took the stage to present the Oscar for best picture.

9:04 PM – The lovely Emma Stone arrived backstage around 9:04 PM. Right after 9:04 PM are when the infamous photos of Brian Cullinan were captured. You can see Mr. Cullinan with his phone in his hand tweeting out the photos he took of Emma stone.

9:05 PM  – At 9:05 PM is when his pictures of Emma Stone were released to twitter.

9:08 PM – At about 9:08 PM Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the award for best picture. They announced the winner as La La Land. It wasn’t until several minutes later where Brian appeared on stage and handed the correct envelope to fellow PwC partner Martha L Ruiz.

The worst part is that Martha Ruiz lost her Oscar’s role as well. She was the first Latina partner for PwC to hold this role. It wasn’t her fault that the wrong envelope was handed to the actors.

I don’t blame the Academy Awards either for canning both these partners. Part of PwC’s process is to memorize the winners of all the awards, so both of these partners should have realized something was wrong the instant the wrong movie was announced. That’s when they should have jumped into action.

It shouldn’t have taken several minutes until the wrong movie’s team started giving acceptance speeches. I think that’s why both Brian and Martha both lost their jobs here. Not only did they get it wrong. They didn’t correct it in a timely manner.

Martha Ruiz joined Brian as the Oscars balloting partner in 2015. That means she was only on this job for two years before she lost it. She’s worked at PwC for 19 years. She gets to keep her job with the firm, and there won’t be any further punishment for her or Brian.

Before becoming the balloting co-leader with Brian, she spent 10 years working behind the scenes as part of the Oscars process. Brian was the balloting co-leader at the Oscars since 2014, so this was his third year. Both had short-term stints in their roles and will now have to face the shame that comes with the mix up the happened on Oscars night. I’m sure it will not be easy for them at PwC in the next few months. I’m sure PwC leadership and their clients will not be taking it easy on them. I really hope both of them use this as a learning experience and come out stronger on the other end.