The 98th Academy Awards gave "KPop Demon Hunters" two Oscars on Sunday night. Then it cut off the people accepting them.
{img}The Netflix animated film won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for its hit track "Golden" at the ceremony held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The double win made history — "Golden" became the first K-pop song to ever receive an Oscar, and the first song with more than four credited writers to win in the category. The film has also surpassed 500 million views on Netflix, making it the first movie in the platform's history to hit that milestone.
But the victory turned complicated almost immediately.
When the "Golden" songwriting team took the stage, singer EJAE opened the speech emotionally. "Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone's singing our song and all the Korean lyrics. I'm so proud," she said, blinking back tears. She spoke about resilience, thanked her family and collaborators, and then stepped aside so co-writer Yu-Han Lee could speak. As soon as Lee began his remarks, the orchestra started playing and the show cut to a commercial break. Lee was left mid-sentence.
{img}The sudden cutoff shocked the audience inside the venue, with loud boos reportedly heard as the music played them off stage. Online, the reaction was sharp and immediate. "This was so disrespectful," wrote one viewer. "They were given less time than every other winner," wrote another, calling for an apology from the Academy. The incident became a trending topic within minutes.
A similar thing had happened earlier the same night when "KPop Demon Hunters" won Best Animated Feature. Director Maggie Kang, who was born in South Korea, used her moment on stage to address representation directly. "For those of you who look like me, I'm so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this," she said. The cutoff music started before producer Michelle L.M. Wong could finish speaking, though it briefly quieted to let them wrap up.
{img}The Oscars producer Rob Mills addressed the backlash the following day, telling Variety: "One thing, as we post mortem for next year, will be to look at how we're handling speeches." He acknowledged it was something the show needed to examine seriously.
At the post-ceremony press conference, Yu-Han Lee got to finish the remarks that were cut off on stage, thanking his family and fellow collaborators. The win, he said, was an incredible honour.
"Golden" had already won a Grammy and a Golden Globe before the Oscars. The song has seven credited writers and spent weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. For K-pop fans, the Oscar made history. For many watching at home, the night left a bitter taste.