In a rare move, the Academy Awards board of governors has disqualified a nominee before the Oscar telecast!
“Alone Yet Not Alone,” a little-heard tune from a little-seen film of the same name, will not appear on Oscar ballots when the final round of voting begins on Feb. 14. And the Academy will not announce a replacement nominee.
The Academy’s board of governors met on Tuesday evening to investigate allegations that have been levied against the surprising nominee since Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 16. The board eventually concluded that the song’s nominated writer, Bruce Broughton, a former governor and current music branch executive committee member, “had emailed [some of the other 239] members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period,” the Academy said in a statement Wednesday.
Broughton saw the situation differently. In a statement released right after the decision was announced, he called his efforts on behalf of his song, a “grassroots campaign.”
I’m devastated. I indulged in the simplest grassroots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention. I got taken down by competition that had months of promotion and advertising behind them. I simply asked people to find the song and consider it.
Academy president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs accuses Broughton of influence peddling, despite his sincere intentions, “No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one’s position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one’s own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage,” she said.
From the Academy’s official statement:
The board determined that Broughton’s actions were inconsistent with the Academy’s promotional regulations, which provide, among other terms, that ‘it is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner. If any campaign activity is determined by the board of governors to work in opposition to that goal, whether or not anticipated by these regulations, the board of governors may take any corrective actions or assess any penalties that in its discretion it deems necessary to protect the reputation and integrity of the awards process.’
The remaining best song nominees are: “Happy” from Despicable Me 2, “Let It Go” from Frozen, “The Moon Song” from Her and “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
