The appropriate length of an awards show acceptance speech has always been a contentious topic. How long is too long? Does the category matter? What about the actual number of winners onstage? Should everyone get a turn at the microphone?
While there are no hard and fast rules, and the demands of television mean producers need to keep things moving along, a particularly merciless interruption of a speech at the Academy Awards on Sunday night struck many viewers as a step too far. (For previous Oscars, producers had established a 45-second rule.)
When “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” made Oscar history by becoming the first K-Pop song to win best original song, a half-dozen songwriters took the stage.
After the singer and songwriter Ejae, fighting back tears, delivered a short speech, in which she said the win was “not about success, it’s about resilience,” one of her co-writers, Yu Han Lee, approached the microphone. He got out “I would like to thank — —” from what appeared to be prepared remarks before a snare drum and a crashing cymbal drowned him out. The songwriters gesticulated, pleading for more time. But the music played on and the show went to commercial.
The hard-line move surprised many in the audience, both at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, where the ceremony was being held, and at home. On the Oscars’ official YouTube channel, the awkward scene was edited out.
Ejae later told reporters backstage that she had hoped to thank her fellow singers on “Golden,” Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, but that she “didn’t get to because they cut us off.” She added, “They killed it with their singing, and they’re just incredible people, and I love them so much.”
A representative for the Oscars did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The scene onstage stood in stark contrast to more than one earlier moment in the ceremony when winners successfully outlasted an attempted cutoff. When Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong won best animated feature film for “KPop Demon Hunters,” they were able to overcome an instrumental version of “Golden” encouraging them offstage.
Acceptance speeches throughout the night varied in length. Amy Madigan, who won for best supporting actress for her role in “Weapons,” spent nearly three minutes onstage. Paul Thomas Anderson, who picked up trophies for best adapted screenplay, best director and best picture for “One Battle After Another,” spoke for roughly two minutes, or less, each time.
By Monday morning, clips of the music forcing the “Golden” songwriters offstage had circulated widely on social media, with many people calling the move “rude” and “brutal.”
Some people in the comments of the clip on the Oscars YouTube channel questioned why there had been more than ample time for a lengthy “Bridesmaids” bit but not enough for the winners to speak.
“If we have time for spoofs, we have time for winners’ speeches,” one person wrote. “After all, that’s what the award show is about.”
There are reasons, some argue, for producers to keep speeches tight, even beyond simple broadcast time.
Last year, Adrien Brody set the record for the longest Oscar acceptance speech after winning best actor for his work in “The Brutalist.” Kyle Buchanan, who reports on the Oscars for The New York Times, wrote that Brody “badly needed both a stopwatch and an exit line.” (At Sunday’s ceremony, Brody was a presenter — and kept his comments notably brief.)
Some award shows have tried to shuffle off long-winded winners more gracefully, or more humorously, than on Sunday. Nate Bargatze, as the host of the Emmys in September, pledged $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of America, only to deduct $1,000 for every second that winners went over their allotted time. He had hoped that a charitable cause would lead to brevity. The results were mixed.
At the Academy Awards in 2001, producers promised a high-definition television set to the Oscar winner who spoke for the shortest length of time. The gambit wasn’t wholly successful. Accepting the best actress award for her work in “Erin Brockovich,” Julia Roberts began: “I have a television, so I’m going to spend some time here to tell you some things.”
Emmanuel Morgan contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.
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