The Craziest Oscars Conspiracy Theories Ever

We all remember the classic screw-up in 2017 when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the Best Picture winner over “Moonlight.” Just a big mistake, right? Maybe not. What none of us knew last year, and what we all know now, is that there are two accountants from PriceWaterhouseCooper with the winners’ envelopes, and one stands on each side of the stage. One of the accountants accidentally handed Warren Beatty the unused envelope for Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone for La La Land. This is the card Faye Dunaway read and was the source of the mix-up.

So, what if the accountant who gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope did it intentionally? Rodger Sherman from The Ringer theorized that perhaps the accountant, angered that the Academy had snubbed the Ben Affleck film glamorizing his profession, decided to show the Oscars what accountants are really made of — by delivering them an embarrassment.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers said that those accountants will never work with the Oscars again, but maybe it was worth it for them. However, it’s a theory — a dumb theory.

In 1993, Marisa Tomei won Best Supporting Actress for her role in My Cousin Vinny. This was an unexpected win. Tomei who played a loud Brooklyn hairdresser in a goofy comedy, was going up against older, seasoned performers in more traditionally serious roles, like Vanessa Redgrave in Howard’s End and Joan Plowright in Enchanted April. The rumors kicked off the following year, after the publication of a Hollywood Reporter article, which read: “A rumor is currently making the rounds in Manhattan… that last year Marisa Tomei received her Oscar statue by error, with a resultant scandal about it soon to be exposed, much to the shame of the Academy.”

Even though that article also said that the rumor was absolutely false, people still bought it.According to the theory, old senile Jack Palance couldn’t read what name was written on the card, so he blurted out Marisa Tomei.

After receiving her second Oscar nomination in 2001 for In The Bedroom, Tomei opened up about how the controversy had affected her. She said: “That was really hurtful at first. I was young, and I really didn’t know the ways of the world on any level. But now I know the ways of the world, so I’m just, like, OK. I mean, it’s so in the past.”