IT WAS the most awkward two minutes and 22 seconds in Oscars history. In that brief episode, the final moments of the Academy Awards night became a theater of confusion and anxiety. The people on stage were standing about with perplexed looks, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
I'm sure that by now you've seen The Great Oscars Flub. It's being played again and again on television. You can catch it on Facebook and YouTube. And of course you've read the tsunami of reactions it elicited on Twitter.
But let me give you a recap. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty come on stage to present the Oscar for best movie, which is the night's finale. After the short videos introducing the nominees, Beattyis handed the red envelope bearing the winner's name.
He pulls out the card, looks at it, and pauses. He checks the envelope, looking unsure. Then he glances at Dunaway before handing her the card. She reads the card and announces: "La La Land."
Applause erupts. The delegation from "La La Land" make their way to the stage.
Acceptance speeches are made, but there is a noticeable stir rippling across the stage. Finally, La La producer Jordan Horowtiz takes the mic. "I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from "Moonlight," he declares.
The audience is in shock.
Beatty explains that he had been handed an envelope with Emma Stone's name inside. Stone won the best actress award. "That is why I took such a long at Faye, and then at you," he says. "I wasn't trying to be funny."
Hours later, PwC, the accounting firm that handles the balloting process for the Academy, owned up the fiasco, saying its tabulators handed Beatty the envelope for the best actress award.
Before PwC confessed to the crime, I had my own lineup of suspects in the mayhem that marred Oscars night.
Suspect No. 1: North Korea's Kim Jong-Un. Kim must still be bristling over "Interview," a political satire about an American TV host recruited by the CIA to assassinate the Korean dictator. Kim has never tolerated dissent, let alone being ridiculed. What better way to exact vengeance than by sabotaging Hollywood's gala event.
Suspect No. 2: China. Beijing, who has been scooping up US film production companies and theaters like they were dimsum joints, could have felt that now is the time to deal Hollywood a decisive blow and make its takeover of American entertainment complete.
Suspect No. 3: The people behind #oscarsowhite. Academy Awards President Cheryl Boone Isaacs promised diversity in the selection of Oscar winners, but the likes of Chris Rock, Jadda Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee must have felt she is not moving fast enough. But then again, "Moonlight" won best picture, so that lets them off the hook.
Suspect No. 4: Donald Trump. The US president must have known in advance that Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel was going to skewer him. Trump and the TV host were never in each other's dance cards, and during Oscars night Kimmel was in fighting trim. In his opening monologue, Kimmel wryly noted: "This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us."
To Trump, the only way to deflect Kimmel's tirades must have been to create a screw-up during the night's finale. And follow it up with a message on Brietbart News: "It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars. It didn't feel like a very glamorous evening. I've been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad."