This is kind of unprecedented. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to unnominate Best Original Song nominee Alone Yet Not Alone due to some questionable campaigning from songwriter Bruce Broughton. Broughton used to chair the original song committee, and apparently used his wide influence to sneak a nomination for a film no one had ever heard of or seen. Here’s the official press release from the Academy:
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