Oscar Madness: Academy Rescinds Nomination In Original Song Category

86th Oscars

And not just because it’s a bad song either.

[Deadline](http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/academy-rescinds-original-song-oscar-nomination-for-alone-yet-not-alone/):

> In a year where some of music’s biggest names contributed songs for movies, Alone Yet Not Alone, the title track from a film nobody saw, got a Best Original Song nomination over the likes of Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Celine Dion and many others. Our Pete Hammon detailed how the song writer — Bruce Broughton, a former Academy Governor and head of the music branch — had more influential friends than some of the music industry’s biggest artists, and that is how he got a nomination over the likes of Lana Del Rey,l whose song Young and Beautiful,was so gorgeously layered into the movie by director Baz Luhrmann. According to sources, Broughton hired a veteran film music publicist to get attention for the song. But after press releases failed to earn traction for Alone But Not Alone, Broughton started making phone calls to colleagues urging them to consider the song.

So just to recap, a former Academy Governor wrote a song for a movie which no one ended up seeing (it played, apparently, once a day for a week in LA) and it managed to get an Oscar nod over the likes of plenty of other candidates. Now the guy has been improperly campaigning (the rules for campaigning at all are a bit weird) and the nomination has been pulled.

Worse, they aren’t naming any other song to fill the gap, there’s just going to only be 4 songs this year. What utter bullshit.

Not that the song had a real chance of winning anyway, _Let It Go_ should be the clear front runner and honestly can we just remove the U2 song from the list too? It’s not original if the band has written it several times for every album they’ve released, right? Ugh.

Here’s the full press release:

> BEVERLY HILLS, CA — On Tuesday night, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted to rescind the Original Song nomination for “Alone Yet Not Alone,” music by Bruce Broughton and lyric by Dennis Spiegel. The decision was prompted by the discovery that Broughton, a former Governor and current Music Branch executive committee member, had emailed members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period.

> “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,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President.

> 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.”

> An additional nominee in the Original Song category will not be named. The remaining nominees in the category are:

> “Happy” from Despicable Me 2
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams

> “Let It Go” from Frozen
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

> “The Moon Song” from Her
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

> “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom