How Denzel Washington saved the Oscars

Denzel Washington successfully saved the Academy Awards from descending into chaos on Sunday night by politely informing host Jimmy Kimmel and Hollywood legend Warren Beatty to shut their mouths.

In his first night back at work hosting his eponymous ABC late night show on Monday, Kimmel revealed how Washington came to the rescue in the final moments of the Oscars ceremony after a flustered and confused Faye Dunaway erroneously announced that La La Land was the Best Picture winner.

That mistake was corrected soon after and Moonlight was declared the rightful winner in the category, at which point Beatty explained to the audience the reason for the mistake was due to the pair being given the wrong envelope backstage while Kimmel kept jumping in with quips to lighten the mood.

Both men were doing this while standing directly in front of Washington, who Kimmel said suddenly screamed at them from his seat in the audience: 'Barry.'

That is when Kimmel said he realized that while he was talking, the Moonlight team and their director Barry Jenkins had been gathering behind him and were waiting to speak.

'Thank God Denzel was there to make sense,' said Kimmel. 'So I listened to Denzel, as you should, and I went and I got Barry.' 

- Daily Mail