Academy Announces 4 Oscar Categories to Be Presented During Commercials, Backlash Ensues
Four fortunate, and unfortunate, Oscar winners will have to accept their trophies off-air.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed that four categories will be presented during commercial breaks at the 91st Academy Awards on Feb. 24.
They are: cinematography, film editing, live-action short and makeup and hairstyling.
The four winners' acceptance speeches will be edited and air later during the broadcast.
In an email, Academy president John Bailey explained that those categories would stream on Oscars.org and on social media channels.
In the future, Bailey said, four to six different categories may be selected on a rotating basis to be presented during commercials. The four categories that were chosen this year are guaranteed inclusion in the 2020 broadcast.
A video demonstration of how this will look was reportedly shown to various branches of the Academy. It showed most of the presentation, except for the winner's walk to the stage, and the goal was to capture the spirit of each winner's acceptance speech (but perhaps curtailing excessive thanks).
The reaction to the Academy's move was deep disappointment, including from last year's Best Director winner, Guillero del Toro: