WHEN I turned on the television on Monday morning I thought there had been a major world event.
Disastrous events had unfolded overnight and every news channel was talking about it.
In fact, it was pretty much the only news item all day.
Someone had announced the wrong winner of the Best Picture award at the Oscars ceremony.
No-one had died and the only things that had been hurt were probably quite a few egos and more than one career but it dominated every bulletin on both the television and radio throughout the day.
Everyone in the run up to it had been concerned political rants would overshadow the proceedings but in the end it was something as simple as a wrong envelope which trumped everybody else’s achievements.
Who won best supporting actor and actress? I couldn’t tell you.
What did best actor Casey Affleck say when he collected his best actor statuette? Again I couldn’t tell you and it was probably muffled again by the large beard he is currently sporting.
How sad for everyone involved, for those two people who beamed conspiratorially as they headed up the famed red carpet guarding the boxes with said envelopes in, at the start of the evening that three days on people are still being publically vilified.
I am sure the cast of La La Land have now suitable recovered, the luminous Emma Stone polishing her shiny best actress trophy alongside the film’s director and four others from assorted categories.
Likewise a whole host of folks will now be heading to the cinema to see Moonlight which had had a fairly minimal release and could best be described as arthouse before the Oscars.
And I will bet quite a few more people than had previously planned tuned into the highlights on Monday night.
So it is one of those major news events where everyone emerges relatively unscathed.
Except for the two people who handed an already confused-looking Warren Beatty the wrong envelope.
Curiously no-one is asking why Warren did not query the fact the card said Emma Stone was the best picture (why would it have a particular actresses name on it?) instead of just the film’s name and its producers.
I am not an award-winning actor and, sadly, I have never presented an Oscar to anyone but even I might have cast a confused and panicked eye back at the organisers had I opened that envelope.