When Oscar nominations were announced earlier this month, one of the biggest surprises was ALONE YET NOT ALONE's Best Song nomination for "Alone Yet Not Alone." The film had received little to no attention before the nominations were announced, and many thought there were more deserving songs that should have been up for the award instead.
Well, "Alone Yet Not Alone" is no longer in the running for Best Song. The Academy has disqualified the song because of the actions of its writer, Bruce Broughton. So what did he do wrong? Broughton served on the Academy's board from 2003-2012, is a former governor and is a current member of the music branch executive committee. The problem is, he e-mailed other members of the branch to let them know about his submission, which is a big no-no.
Here's Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs commenting on the situation:
"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."
The Academy also released a statement on why they decided to disqualify the song:
"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.'"
Soon after the announcement was made, Bruce Broughton talked to THR and had this to say about the Academy's decision on his song.
"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."
This isn't the first time an Academy Award nomination has been revoked, but it doesn't happen that often either. For example, Nino Rota's score for THE GODFATHER was nominated, however it wasn't eligible because he used the same theme in the 1958 comedy FORTUNELLA. In that case, a different score replaced Rota's, but in this instance, a new song won't be added to the ballot. The remaining 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, and many people associated with other songs that could be nominated aren't happy with the Academy because they aren't going to replace "Alone Yet Not Alone" with a new nominee.
It might not seem like that big of a deal to e-mail your friends about your nomination, but Bruce Broughton really should have known better if it goes against the board's promotional regulations. But what do you think? Did the Academy do the right thing, or are they just being dicks?
The 86th Academy Awards will air on ABC on March 2nd, 2014.