KPop Demon Hunters’ songwriters were invited to complete their Oscars remarks in the backstage press room after their acceptance speech was abruptly cut short during the live broadcast.
Being “played off” by the orchestra has long been part of the ceremony’s lore, but viewers felt this year’s cut-off was especially harsh as multiple creatives behind KPop Demon Hunters stepped up to accept Best Original Song for ‘Golden’ and were ushered away before they could properly speak.
Online, the moment quickly sparked backlash, with some calling the interruption disrespectful.
One angry individual penned on Twitter: “Why they put music? what the f**k they done??? that’s so mean and disrespectful!”
Another said: “That was absolutely terrible! And you can hear some audience members booing that they got cut off! Sorry but this was disgraceful @TheAcademy.”
With attention on the abrupt ending, the song team later got the space to say what they didn’t manage to on stage, continuing their thanks from the press room.
Songwriter Yu-Han Lee, who only managed a few words before the cut, used the backstage moment to acknowledge those closest to the project.
“I would like to thank our families, and 24, and our fellow IDO members,” he said. “This is an incredible honor.”
EJAE – who provides vocals on several KPop Demon Hunters tracks – added (via Entertainment Weekly) that the win reflected a huge group effort and singled out the filmmakers who guided it.
“We feel very grateful and very honored. We all worked so hard and this is such a collaborative effort, we just need to thank our directors.
“They created a beautiful film. Everyone was a part of it and we are just so happy that the hard work paid off.”
'KPop Demon Hunters' songwriters react to getting cut off at the #Oscars after winning Best Song for "Golden" and finish their speech
Read more: https://t.co/0leputa07C pic.twitter.com/96dKLkewAZ
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 16, 2026
She also used the extra time to praise fellow vocalists Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, explaining that she didn’t get to mention them during the televised speech “because they just cut us off”.
“They killed it with their singing and they’re just incredible people and I love them so much,” she said of her friends.
Co-composer Mark Sonnenblick echoed the same theme: that the final song, and the film around it, were built by a large, cross-disciplinary team.
“Everybody [who] worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board,” he said.
He also reflected on what he sees as a central message of the story.
“Part of the movie is about looking at someone that you had been taught to hate and to fear, and starting to trust, [or] maybe, you know, love them.”
Beyond the Best Original Song win for ‘Golden’, KPop Demon Hunters also took home Best Animation.
It’s a wrap for the glitziest night in showbiz – here’s everything that happened on Hollywood’s biggest night.
Conan O’Brien opens the #Oscars with a ballet/opera joke as the camera cuts to Timothée Chalamet, poking fun at his recent controversy.
(ABC/AMPAS) pic.twitter.com/NNCwtOPEAk
— Variety (@Variety) March 15, 2026
Elsewhere in the evening’s wider conversation, Timothée Chalamet drew attention for remarks about the arts that resurfaced around awards season.
In comments that may have cost him his first Oscar, Chalamet said in a conversation with Matthew McConaughey for Variety: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
The 30-year-old was widely considered a frontrunner for Best Actor, but lost out to Michael B Jordan, while Marty Supreme walked away empty-handed following nine nominations.
Chalamet, who attended the ceremony with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, was roasted twice.
Host Conan O’Brien quipped in his opening monologue: “Security is extremely tight tonight. I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet community.”
Chalamet was seen laughing along.
Later, Alexandre Singh — co-director of one of the two short-film winners — also referenced the debate while accepting his award.
Then later in the night, Alexandre Singh, co-director of one of the two winning short films, Two People Exchanging Saliva, also shaded Chalemet, saying in his acceptance speech: “Maybe it takes 10 years’ time, but we can change society through art, through creativity, through theatre and ballet, and also cinema.”
The ceremony also produced a rare statistical quirk: the seventh tie in Academy Awards history, with Two People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers sharing Best Live-Action Short Film.
Presenter Kumail Nanjiani acknowledged the unusual outcome with a joke from the stage.
Presenting the award, actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani quipped: “It’s a tie, I’m not joking, it’s actually a tie. Ironic that the short film Oscar’s going to take twice as long.”
The other six ties were in 1932 for Best Actor (Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wallace Beery for The Champ), 1950 for Best Documentary Short Subject (A Chance to Live and So Much for So Little), 1969 for Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl), 1986 for Best Documentary Feature (Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got and Down and Out in America), 1995 for Best Live Action Short Film (Trevor and Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life); and most recently 2013 for Best Sound Editing (Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty).
There was also a comedic throwback moment when a group of stars from a popular comedy reunited on stage to present Best Score.
Fifteen years on from the beloved comedy, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper and Maya Rudolph took to the stage to present the award for Best Score.
Performing a comedy skit, the actors pretended to receive notes from some of the big-name nominees.
Rudolph joked: “Mine says, ‘First of all, you ladies look extremely beautiful tonight.’ Thank you. ‘You’re aging well.’ Signed, Stellan Skarsgård.”
McCarthy quipped: “Mine is almost impossible to read. The handwriting is really pretty terrible. Says, ‘Hi, I’m with Stellan Skarsgård, writing my own separate note.
“‘I also agree you ladies look radiant. All the things you’ve done to your faces are very tasteful. Yours truly, Elle Fanning.’
“Wait, wait, there’s more. It says, ‘Just kidding. It’s me again, Stellan Skarsgård.’”
Wendi McLendon-Covey, who played Rita in the film, was noticeably absent. She later said she was recovering from a neck lift.
One of the night’s more surprising storylines involved an acting winner who didn’t attend in person.
Sean Penn won his third Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his hilarious and terrifying portrayal of Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another, but he was nowhere to be seen at the ceremony
Accepting the award on his behalf, Kieran Culkin joked: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”
The New York Times reports – citing two sources familiar with the situation – that Penn was actually in Ukraine instead.
He has been a vocal critic of Russia’s invasion, making the documentary Superpower about it in 2022.
He’s firm friends with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and even gave him one of his Oscar statuettes as a gift. Zelenskyy promised to return it when the war was won.
While One Battle After Another dominated the overall tally, several other wins delivered history-making milestones.
Amy Madigan, who took home Best Supporting Actor for her performance as fashion icon and child abductor Aunt Gladys in Weapons, broke the record for the longest time between Oscar nominations.
It’s been 40 years since his first nomination for Twice in a Lifetime in 1986, which ended up going to Anjelica Huston for Prizzi’s Honor.
She said in her acceptance speech: “This is great. Everybody’s asking me, ‘Well, it’s been 40 years, what’s different about this time?’ Different is I have this little gold guy!”
Autumn Durald Arkapaw took home the Oscar for Best Cinematography for Sinners. She is the first woman and the first black person to win the award.
She said in her speech: “I’m so honored to be here and I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys.”
She also thanked Rachel Morrison in her speech, a cinematographer who was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound, but lost out to Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049.