When CNN did a segment on how Oscars get made on Monday, anchor Ted Rowlands walked viewers through the process at R.S. Owens, the Chicago factory that's been making the statuettes for the last 30 years.
They were short for time and in the final seconds, Rowlands showed a nameplate for Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio.
One Twitter user took a photo of the moment.
SPOILER: CNN Showed the Oscar winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role #Oscars
He and others started to think CNN spoiled the Best Actor Oscar winner with less than three weeks to go before the ceremony.
HOLY SCHMIDT. CNN JUST ACCIDENTALLY LEAKED THE OSCAR WINNER FOR BEST ACTOR. #Oscars
I think CNN just accidentally leaked a Oscar winner on live tv.
so Leo won an Oscar 3 weeks before the Oscars if that leaked CNN photo is accurate. Good. That's who deserves it dammit.
CNN Leaks Leonardo DiCaprio Oscar win for Wolf of Wall Street.
Sooooo DiCaprio gonna win Best Actor Oscar for Wolf of Wall Street? Thanks CNN.
SO @CNN just messed up... I guess we know at least one of the winners of the Oscars! #Oscars2014 #whoops
Others were more skeptical.
Has the Academy really spoiled the #Oscars best actor as DiCaprio? The votes haven't been counted yet-On CNN!? Am I dreaming? This is MENTAL
So apparently CNN leaked the Best Picture Oscar winner by mistake. http://t.co/SugvlSkJR5
But still hopeful.
Apparently CNN showed a factory that makes the Oscars and showed a name plate for Leo!!! Eeekkk!! Let's hope!!... http://t.co/zUcYJeQ14L
There was basically even more confusion about the Oscar-making process after that CNN segment.
Is that CNN thing real? It can't be because they engrave #Oscars afterwards right?
But, in reality, there is a nameplate made for each nominee.
Many winners at big award shows end up having to give back their statuettes after their acceptance speeches and photo opportunities so that they can get engraved. The Oscars was one of those award shows until 2010, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to allow its winners to get their engraved nameplates for their Oscars on the night of the ceremony at the Governor's Ball, the official after-party of the Academy Awards.
Since the winners are not known until the opening of the envelope at the actual Academy Awards ceremony, R.S. Owens manufactures nearly 200 personalized nameplates, one for each nominee in each category. After the Academy Awards, the personalized nameplates of the winners are affixed to the Oscars themselves and the nameplates of the nominees who do not win are recycled.
UPDATE: A rep for the Academy adds that DiCaprio's prospective nameplate was "accidentally revealed" on the CNN segment by an R.S. Owens employee, and that voting for the Oscars won't even begin until Friday, Feb. 14 (concluding on Tuesday, Feb. 25).
Here's Anne Hathaway getting emotional over her nameplate at last year's Oscars.
And here are George Clooney and Grant Heslov, producers and winners for Best Picture Argo, watching their nameplates get affixed to their statuettes.
Considering many fans' serious passion about DiCaprio winning an Oscar, we don't mean to crush dreams.
For their sake, here's hoping his nameplate is not among the recycled.
