The Oscars spectacular finale mishap has taken another twist, with a mounting backlash against the decision to can one of the PwC accountants involved with the Academy Awards.
Many are calling the decision to fire PwC partner Martha Ruiz sexist and a miscarriage of justice. They say it was her colleague, Bryan Cullinan, who distributed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty that resulted in La La Land being mistakenly announced as the Best Film Oscar winner Sunday. Cullinan, too, has been removed from Oscars duty because of the screwup; both he and Ruiz are still employed by PwC.
A spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed both PwC partners will have nothing to do with the Oscars going forward in the wake of the fiasco. But many people are crying “Free Martha” and claiming Ruiz is getting a rough ride:
Hey, @TheAcademy why is #MarthaRuiz being punished? She isn’t the one who screwed up! #BrianCullinan messed up #FreeMartha #notfair
— Zea (@ColombianRaven) March 2, 2017
I’m apparently not the only one mystified and slightly pissed about Martha Ruiz being thrown under the double-decker bus. #FreeMarthaRuiz
— Lisa Winston (@LisaWinston) March 2, 2017
As a latino woman, Im infuriated that @PwC_LLP removed Martha Ruiz from the Oscars when she did nothing wrong. Support hard working women!
— IGM (@55sirenita) March 2, 2017
The #Oscars basically released a statement reading “we sacked Martha Ruiz for no reason…peace.” @PwC cannot be allowed to scapegoat her.
— G. Diddy (@Telldem1) March 1, 2017
People really made their feelings clear when PwC’s U.S. Twitter account decided to honor Women’s History Month.
Happy Women’s History Month, where apparently you have to pay the cost for your male colleague’s errors… @pwc @TheAcademy https://t.co/5h7ctxSkAK
— Tammi LaTela (@TLaTela) March 2, 2017
While clearly Cullinan is the major screwup agent here, the issue is complicated. On the one hand it was Cullinan who, reportedly because he was busy tweeting a picture of Emma Stone, handed the wrong envelope to Beatty.
But as 2017 Oscars lead stage manager Gary Natoli pointed out to The Wrap, Ruiz also bears responsibility for a shocking lack of proactivity. He said: “I was in the wings stage left with Jimmy [Kimmel] when they announced La La Land. We watched for about 10 more seconds, and during that entire time Martha was no more than five feet away from us.
“When La La Land was announced, she did not try to get my attention, she did not say anything. And she’s supposed to have memorized the winners.”
Natoli said Ruiz then compounded the error by not rushing to the stage to redress the situation: “She was standing there with the envelope in her hand, very low-key…Martha wouldn’t go [on the stage]. We had to push them on stage, which was just shocking to me….I still do not understand the delay. Brian should have run out there on his own. Martha should have run out there.”
So she’s not exactly blameless. But that’s not stopping the move toward Martha-dom…