Twitter Hoax: Leonardo DiCaprio Oscar Leak

Twitter is buzzing right now over a CNN report on how the Oscars may have accidently leaked who won the Academy Award for “Best Actor in A Leading Role”.

A CNN screenshot during the special showed an Oscar nameplate with the following engraving:

ACADEMY AWARD
TO
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
“THE WOLF OF WALL STREET”
2013

It is impossible for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science to know who won the award for “Best Actor”, or any other award for that matter, since the voting process hasn’t even ended yet.

According to the Academy, “final ballots are mailed to voting members in late-January and are due back to PricewaterhouseCoopers the Tuesday prior to Oscar Sunday for final tabulation.” Therefore, Oscar officials will not know which nominee won their respective category until Tuesday, February 25th at the earliest.

The Academy explained the process in a 2010 press release, “In preparation for the night, the Academy will create 197 nameplates, one for each 2009 nominee in every category. The engraving will include the nominee’s name, category, film title and year. After the winners have been announced, the unused nameplates will be recycled.”

Sorry for the disappointment folks, but I do hope Leo does end up winning the award.