"It is true, it's not fake," said Moonlight director Barry Jenkins during his jaw-dropping acceptance speech, which followed a roller coaster of events that led to his movie being named best picture on Sunday night.
In the moments before Jenkins spoke those words, actor Warren Beatty and actress Faye Dunaway took the stage and declared La La Land the winner. The cast and crew of La La Land walked on stage. Producer Jordan Horowitz gave his acceptance speech ... then realized the winning card said Moonlight.
This was maybe the easiest pitch for anyone looking to tee up "fake news" jokes (who hasn't been sitting on a stash of these lately?), and those watching the Oscars with Twitter open got right to the task.
I eagerly await the flood of phone calls to the @CKNW newsroom who thought La La Land won and then accuse us of fake news.
— Matt Lee (@mattlee980) February 27, 2017
Waiting for Donald Trump to blame Muslims, Mexico and illegal immigrants for the La La Land mix up and then brandish it FAKE NEWS #Oscars
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) February 27, 2017
Trump: La La Land Won Best Picture
Media: Actually it was Moonlight
Trump: Wrong Wrong Wrong. Fake News. Wrong.
#Oscars— MATTY ICE (@FailGOP) February 27, 2017
You can thank Oscars 2017 for taking us one more step in the slow death march of the term "fake news."