On Monday, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave everyone heart attacks when they tweeted out an anonymous Oscar ballot without explanation. Were these the official winners? One voter’s ballot? An envelope-gate redux?
It turned out to be nothing but a technical snafu caused when a new social media widget called Oscars Predictions Experience accidentally hijacked The Academy’s official Twitter account. The Academy eventually offered an explanation, though they were less than graceful getting there.
As The Playlist pointed out, it all began at 7:34 pm ET on Monday night, when The Academy tweeted out a ballot with Parasite winning Best Picture, Sam Mendes winning Best Director, and other believable choices. Within an hour, the tweet had caused enough confusion that The Academy needed to clarify. They did it in the most Academy way possible, without admitting any mistakes or even directly addressing the controversy. “See all the #Oscars predictions fans are sharing on Twitter right now” they tweeted. “DM us to create and share yours!”
When everyone failed to pick up on the subtle hint that these were fan predictions, The Academy tried again. And again, they declined to offer an explanation of what had happened, instead retweeting someone else’s comment, which read, “Everyone chill, it’s a predictions app!”
Finally, four hours after the first post, The Academy released an official statement:
“We invited fans on Twitter to make and share your #Oscars predictions. A ton of you already have! A brief issue on Twitter made some of yours look like they came from our account. They didn’t. This error is now resolved. And we’ll reveal our picks on Sunday.”
Since then, the fan predictions that The Academy accidentally tweeted have been deleted, though you can see a screenshot of the first one below. The technical issues with Oscars Predictions Experience seem to have been resolved, and Midwesterners can continue to appreciate that the mistake-prone widget is called OPE.
The real winners will be announced this Sunday, February 9th, from a strong pool of nominees. Once again, the ceremony will make do without a host. David Lynch has already received his honorary Oscar, and his acceptance speech was only 20 words long. Stay tuned to Consequence of Sound for our full Oscars coverage.
See all the #Oscars predictions fans are sharing on Twitter right now? DM us to create and share yours! https://t.co/e5AJJfYqpC
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 4, 2020
Everyone chill, it’s a predictions app! https://t.co/CTnNLS5GyX
— Kris Tapley (@kristapley) February 4, 2020
We invited fans on Twitter to make and share your #Oscars predictions.
A ton of you already have!
A brief issue on Twitter made some of yours look like they came from our account.
They didn’t. This error is now resolved.
And we’ll reveal our picks on Sunday.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 4, 2020
The Academy confuses everyone by accidentally tweeting Oscar predictions
wrengraves
