Producers of the Oscar ceremony are responding to backlash for cutting one acceptance speech short.
During the Academy Awards ceremony on March 15th, the lyricists of “Golden,” the hit song from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, were stopped from finishing their acceptance speech for Best Original Song because the allotted time had run out. After speaking, singer EJAE stepped aside to thank his fellow artists, but the music picked up and the broadcast cut to a commercial.
Although it is common practice to exclude speakers who exceed the allotted time for their acceptance speeches, viewers largely derided the Oscars for what they saw as a particularly abrupt cutoff. Now, the people behind the high-profile award ceremony are paying attention.
Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s executive vice president of unscripted and alternative entertainment, told Variety in a March 16 interview that “when we do the autopsy for next year, we’ll be looking at how we handle the speech.” “I don’t know what the most elegant solution is, but it’s clearly something we need to think about really, really long and hard.”
Mills went on to acknowledge how “difficult” it is to cut someone off, and that it’s fleeting for them.
“I looked at that and said, okay, do I need to nominate one person to speak?” he continued. “Maybe we keep it going backstage and we have a feed on social or something like that.”
“KPop Demon Hunters” won the Oscar for Best Animated Film as well as Best Song. This is the most watched movie in Netflix history.
“When I was a kid, I was teased for liking K-pop, but now everyone sings along,” EJAE said in a tearful speech from the stage. In the press room afterwards, other award winners also responded and shared the feelings they wanted to express from the stage.
“I want to thank my family,” said Yu Han Lee. “This is an incredible honor.”
Director Mark Sonnenblick expressed his gratitude, saying, “My family…my husband…everyone who worked on this movie…it was a true collaboration across the board…and the fans who loved this movie and made this movie…A movie is like a village. I’m lucky to be here right now.”
Contributor: Charles Trepany, USA TODAY
