Diane Warren Slams Academy Award Producers for Cutting 3 Best Original Song Nominee Performances
Diane Warren is not happy with the way the Academy is handling its Best Original Song nominations at this year’s Academy Awards.
On Thursday (January 29), the Oscar producers sent an open letter to the representatives and/or Best Original Song nominees about their controversial decision to feature only two of the five nominees, specifically “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Sinners.
The other nominees include “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” an aria from the documentary Viva Verdi; the Train Dreams end-credit song; and “Dear Me,” a personal song written by Diane for her documentary Diane Warren: Relentless (recorded by Kesha).
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The letter claims that the other three songs will be covered in a “bespoke package” including behind-the-scenes content, but otherwise, only Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters received invitations to perform live at the 98th Academy Awards.
Speaking exclusively to Deadline, Diane, who has been nominated in the category 17 times (and this year marks her ninth consecutive year) slammed the producers for their decision.
“It is unfair to me and my fellow nominees because you just excluded three songs and chose two. It is my fellow artists who deserve the respect which comes from a nomination, right? Here is how I look at it. Put all the songs on. It is all of us or none of us, and that is what it should be,” she said.
To add insult to injury, the decision was announced ahead of the final ballots.
Diane noted that in a similar situation a few years ago, she and Lady Gaga both reportedly chose not to perform their songs—”Shallow” for Gaga and Diane‘s song “I’ll Fight” with Jennifer Hudson—unless all of the nominees got their chance.
“The next day the producer called me and said, ‘Well we do want your song and Jennifer Hudson (to perform). And I said ‘Well my friend Marc Shaiman with the Mary Poppins song and the other people, I said ‘Well hell no. if the other two songs aren’t on I don’t want to be on the show. I took a stand, and to be fair so did Gaga. Gaga as an artist said ‘No, we aren’t going to be on if the other songs aren’t performing.’ And you know what? They put the other songs on,” she explained.
The acclaimed songwriter hopes that something like that will happen again this year.
“That is honestly what should happen with the other performers (this year). It is basically like crossing a picket line. I wouldn’t do it. If they came to me right now and said ‘You know what? We want you and Kesha on the show but we don’t want Nick Pike and the opera song or Train Dreams, I would say ‘No, I won’t do that.’ I did it once and stood up. It is up to these other performers. We all are legitimately nominated and to make a choice like that and throw the other songs under the bus is wrong. I am speaking for me of course, but I feel I am also speaking for the other nominees. It is wrong.”
At one point in the letter, the producers said they made their choice based on “films whose songs have played a defining role in their global cultural impact and audience connection this year,” to which Diane argued, “Who are they to make a judgment call as to what song is integral to what story?”
She continued, “If you don’t take all the songs off it is just unfair to all the others. What matters is we were all nominated. If you are going to have any songs, take all of them or take all of them the f–k off.”
Find out which nominee for Best Original Song is most likely to win based on the betting odds.