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[Sports Today Reporter Kim Tae-hyung] As criticism mounted over the Academy’s decision to cut off the Netflix animated team K-pop Demon Hunters by cuing music during their acceptance remarks, the ceremony’s broadcast producer said he would pursue a solution.
On March 16 (local time), U.S. entertainment outlet Deadline published an interview with Rob Mills, senior vice president of Walt Disney Television, who oversaw the live broadcast of the 98th Academy Awards.
Mills denied any intentional slight, saying, “I wish I could offer a more polished answer about what happened, but the truth is we were doing our best to capture as meaningful a moment as possible before the speech was cut off.”
He said the incident would be reviewed and expressed hope it would not recur next year. “We discuss this at the nominees’ luncheon and even display a countdown on the big screen,” he added. “We don’t want anyone to walk away feeling slighted. We’ll review the show afterward and find a solution.”
K-pop Demon Hunters took home two awards at the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Lee Jae, the vocalist and co-writer of the winning song “Golden,” gave an emotional acceptance speech, describing the track as a song about recovery rather than success. But as composer Lee Woo-han took the microphone to speak, producers abruptly cued the orchestra and cut him off.
Even though co-lyricist Mark Sonnenblick signaled for more time, the lights dimmed and the broadcast switched to commercials. That left producers Kwak Jung-gyu, Nam Hee-dong, and Seo Jung-hoon—who joined them onstage—without an opportunity to speak.
OCN host An Hyun-mo, who was covering the ceremony, voiced disappointment, noting that the Best Short Film acceptance speech had been allowed to run long. Social media users also reacted strongly, with comments ranging from questions about racial bias to accusations that modern racism is often carried out subtly, and critiques that the team was simply reading prepared notes when they were cut off.
U.S. outlets likewise criticized the Academy’s handling. Vulture wrote that while there were several interruptions that night, none were as blatant or malicious as the one aimed at the K-pop Demon Hunters team, arguing the moment should have been a celebration of a chart-topping song. CNN said the mishandling turned a historic moment into one that outraged K-pop fans and pointed to the Academy’s clumsy event management.
[Sports Today Reporter Kim Tae-hyung ent@stoo.com]
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