The 'hero' 'La La Land' producer who gave the best picture Oscar to 'Moonlight' says the moment was 'surreal'

"La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz has been lauded as the voice of reason in the melee created Sunday night when his film was mistakenly named the Oscars' best picture winner instead of the actual winner, "Moonlight."

The morning after, Horowitz's gracious reaction to the gaffe in the moment hasn't been replaced by anger about "La La Land's" loss and the confusion around it.

"Hey, I won the Oscar for best picture. I got to thank my wife and kids. And then I got to present the Oscar for best picture! Not many people can say thatm," Horowitz told CNN on Monday.

"I don't even know entirely what happened," he added. "But life throws you a curveball sometimes."

On Sunday, presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the wrong winner's envelope by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. They announced "La La Land" as the winner onstage, because the envelope they were given was meant for the earlier best actress winner, "La La Land" star Emma Stone. After several acceptance speeches were made, Warren Beatty and host Jimmy Kimmel informed the "La La Land" team of the mistake. Horowitz was the one to tell the world and set things straight.

"You guys, I'm sorry, no. There's a mistake," Horowitz said. "'Moonlight,' you guys won best picture."

Then when asking the "Moonlight" team to come up to the stage to take their rightful award, Horowitz said, "This is not a joke."

The producer was called a "hero" and a "gentleman" on social media for the way he reacted to the news of his loss and the win for "Moonlight." The Washington Post said he's "the truth-teller we need right now" in one piece.

Horowitz gave CNN an idea of what it was like to learn about the error in the moment, after he discovered that the winner's envelope was intended for Stone.

"People started saying, 'Where's the best picture card?'" he said. "There was confusion onstage."

Horowitz described the incident as "terrible" and "weird," but he doesn't feel like "La La Land," the musical starring Stone and Ryan Gosling that many pegged as the frontrunner for best picture before the awards, deserves any credit afterward.

"No, this award belongs entirely to 'Moonlight,'" he said of the film about a gay black man growing up in Miami. "I don't want this to take away from them at all... It's a beautiful film made by some beautiful people."