The Oscars In Memoriam gaffe -- in which instead of showing a photograph of Janet Patterson, the organisers projected a photo of an alive producer -- could have been easily prevented, says the late costume designers representative.
The Academy ran the wrong photograph during its In Memoriam tribute to the four-time Oscar-nominated Patterson, who was also an Academy member. She died in October 2016.
But instead, a photo of active producer Jan Chapman, who recently produced "The Daughter" and thriller "The Babadook", was shown.
According to Rocco Hindman, president and CEO of Sandra Marsh & Associates, the agency that represented Patterson for over 20 years, the error could have been avoided, reports variety.com.
"But we were never asked to furnish or verify any images of Ms. Patterson," he said.
Hindman notes that when Patterson died in October, the agency notified the Academy as a courtesy.
"(We) asked about her possible inclusion in the In Memoriam segment but never received a response," he added.
While allowing that the Academy's process for inclusion is kept confidential, Hindman notes that the gaffe was due to what turned out to be a mislabelled photograph.
He said: "It's something we could have easily rectified had we been contacted. It just seems logical for the Academy to obtain correct information and verify photos."
The Academy had later apologised for the mistake.
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