{"id":350064,"date":"2026-03-17T03:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/350064\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T03:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:21:15","slug":"oscars-execs-explain-why-kpop-demon-hunters-speech-was-cut-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/350064\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscars Execs Explain Why KPop Demon Hunters Speech Was Cut Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Academy Awards, like every year before it, was not without a handful of hitches and “Wait, what?” moments. There was one battle after another between One Battle After Another and Sinners, there was KPop Demon Hunters songwriter Yu Han Lee getting cut off<\/a> during his acceptance speech for best original song, and then there was the In Memoriam, which left off a number of names from the televised segment<\/a> that viewers really thought ought to have been there.<\/p>\n

However, the executives behind the Oscars have an explanation for everything, in a post-show interview with Variety<\/a>. The interview, while primarily with Rob Mills, apparently includes answers from a number of Oscars leads, who shared some interesting background on not just many of the show’s skits \u2014 including Conan O’Brien’s “host for life” stinger<\/a> that spoofed Sean Penn’s fate at the end of One Battle After Another \u2014 and speeches, but also the “why” behind both the KPop Demon Hunters faux pax, and the missing In Memoriam names.<\/p>\n

For Lee, who gave his speech in full at a press conference after the ceremony ended, it sounds like getting cut off while being celebrated for “Golden” was really just a miscommunication.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing, as we post mortem for next year, will be to look at how we\u2019re handling speeches,\u201d Mills said. \u201cYou win the Oscar, you know you go on stage, it could be one person, it could be five or six. Immediately you\u2019ll see the sort of allotted time we have for them. Do we need to look at it and say, okay, designate one person to speak. Maybe you continue it backstage, and we have a feed on social or something like that. We look at everything and figure out what is the most elegant solution, because it is difficult, especially when you\u2019re cutting somebody off and it\u2019s their one moment. We talk about it at the award luncheon, that you have this designated time to speak, and it\u2019s difficult. I don\u2019t know what the most elegant solution is, but it\u2019s obviously something we should look really, really long and hard at.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the In Memoriam, Mills says it gets more and more difficult every year, simply because more people in the business are passing away as it grows and everyone ages. The missing names (which included James Van Der Beek, Eric Dane, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner) were all honored on The Academy’s website in an online In Memoriam. But it’s ultimately the Academy’s call, and it’s a tough one to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always is hard when they are sort of villainized for this,” Mills said. “Yes, there\u2019s always people who are left out. Unfortunately, we\u2019re losing more and more people, and especially, we\u2019re losing legendary people every year, so it is probably the hardest needle to thread. I do think what they did last night might have been the best In Memoriam in the history of the Oscars.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of O’Brien continuing to host the Oscars, at least for while it still airs on ABC before it moves to YouTube in 2029<\/a>, it sounds like the bit that had Jim Downey reprising his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie is legit. \u201cOh, that is no joke, Conan is host for life, yes,\u201d Mills said. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t even accepted yet. He\u2019s just being told. We\u2019re assuming that was not a comedy bit. We\u2019re going to treat that as if that was fact.\u201d He added that the offer is as “solid as oak.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you missed the Oscars last night, we’ve got a full round-up of all the winners right here<\/a>, including One Battle After Another’s six wins, Sinners with four, and Frankenstein with three. You can also check out our reviews for popular nominees and winners One Battle After Another<\/a>, Sinners<\/a>, Frankenstein<\/a>, KPop Demon Hunters<\/a>, Weapons<\/a>, Hamnet<\/a>, and F1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Academy Awards, like every year before it, was not without a handful of hitches and “Wait,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-350064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}