The 98th Academy Awards came to a strange end for the KPop Demon Hunters team, especially since the winners of Best Original Song were played off by the orchestra in the middle of their acceptance speech. The songwriting team had just arrived at the stage to accept their award, especially since their song, “Golden,” won in the category, becoming the first K-pop song to achieve this prestigious honor.
Fans slam Oscars for snubbing KPop Demon Hunters’ speech
However, the celebration came to a sudden end when the orchestra started to play, and the broadcast went to a commercial break before they could even finish their speech. The interruption happened in the middle of Yu Han Lee’s speech to the audience.
Meanwhile, the group expressed their sentiments to the press. EJAE, who was also a singer and songwriter, said that she intended to thank her co-creators, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, in her acceptance speech but was not given the chance.
“We feel very grateful and very honored. We all worked so hard, and this is such a collaborative effort; we just need to thank our directors. They created a beautiful film. Everyone was a part of it, and we are just so happy that the hard work paid off,” the singer said.
“Also, I needed to thank Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna onstage, but I didn’t get to because they just cut us off. They killed it with their singing, and they’re just incredible people, and I love them so much.”
“I would like to thank all our families, my fellow Idol members, and Teddy Park. This is an incredible honor,” Lee said as he finished his “unfinished speech” backstage.
Mark Sonnenblick, who was also a songwriter, later revealed what the real message of the song was. According to him, the real idea of the song was about unification, instead of individual achievement. “[The song lyrics are not] ‘I’m going up, up, up.’ It’s ‘We’re going up, up, up.’ And that’s part of the reason that we’re [here] right now. So, thanks to the fans, too, who have loved this movie and made it into what it is and the soundtrack.”
Despite the awkward experience that occurred, the event was still historic for KPop Demon Hunters. In addition to that, the film also received the award for Best Animated Feature, showing how the movie was influencing the world of animation. The reactions online were swift.
Many people criticized the producers of the show for not giving the winners enough time to speak. They felt that this was a milestone moment for K-pop and international representation at the Oscars. So far, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not given a statement about what happened. It was also not clear what the real reason was, but some people suspect that it was because of the broadcast schedule.
Many fans called out this behavior online, but is this the first time? Not really, because Director Alexandre Singh also happened to face the same issue. His film Two People Exchanging Saliva won the award for Best Live Action Short Film. Singh approached the mic after Natalie Musteata, Julianne Moore, and Isabelle Huppert. The moment he stepped in, the crew dimmed the lights and cut the audio.
Conan O’Brien wasn’t one to let this moment slide, and he called out the Oscars for doing so. He said, “I just want to say congratulations to both winners. You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools. I know we’re tight, but to retract a microphone on a man as he’s speaking is hilarious. Next up!”
It was refreshing to see actors standing up regarding the matter. The Academy Awards clearly rained on the winners’ parade; however, that doesn’t diminish their victory by any means.
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