'KPop Demon Hunters' Songwriters Gave Speeches Backstage After Getting Cut Off in Oscars Telecast
'KPop Demon Hunters' Songwriters Gave Speeches Backstage After Getting Cut Off in Oscars Telecast
Starr BowenbankMon, March 16, 2026 at 4:50 PM UTC
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The songwriters of Kpop Demon Hunters were played offstage during the Oscars telecast while attempting to deliver their Best Original Song acceptance speeches.
The moment went viral on social media, and telecast attendees booed after the orchestra cut the songwriters off.
EJAE, who was able to deliver her speech on camera before the moment occurred, allowed her fellow songwriters to continue their speech in the Oscars press room.
Kpop Demon Hunters winning Best Original Song for “Golden” during the 2026 Oscars was expected and highly anticipated—but when the songwriters went onstage to accept the award, both viewers and attendees didn’t expect the group to be played offstage so soon.
The moment, which later went viral on social media, took place after EJAE—who co-wrote the song and provided singing voice for Rumi in the animated film—accepted the award in tears. “Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone is singing our song and all the Korean lyrics,” she said during her acceptance speech. “This award is not about success. It’s about resilience.” She was joined onstage by the song’s other writers, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu-Han Lee (also known as Yuhan), Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, and Teddy Park.
After EJAE spoke, Yuhan stepped up to the mic while holding a piece of paper and prepared to share his words with the audience, but was unable to do so. His microphone was cut off, and he and the rest of the group were promptly played offstage by the orchestra before cutting the lights and going to commercial. According to Billboard, the audience responded with boos.
EJAE later gave the rest of the team the opportunity to finish their speeches backstage in the Oscars press room. Yuhan used his time to thank “our families and 24, and our fellow IDO members,” and added that receiving the award was “an incredible honor.”
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Sonnenblick gave his speech in full: “My family, some of them here tonight—my husband is here tonight,” he said. “Everybody who worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board. Part of the movie is about looking at someone that you had been taught to hate and to fear, and starting to trust, maybe love them. A movie is like a village, and we’re lucky to be up here right now, but there’s so many people who have made this what it is.”
The award show did not issue a statement regarding the moment. The official Oscars YouTube page did not share the Best Original Song acceptance speech in full, and cut out the portion featuring Yuhan attempting to deliver his portion of the speech.
Part of the outrage stems from “Golden” making history at the Oscars. It became the first K-pop song to win Best Original Song, as well as the first song with more than four writers to win, and the first best song winner where all of the writers would not receive an individual trophy, Billboard reported.
The Motion Picture Academy doesn’t allow more than four individual statuettes to be awarded for the Best Original Song category; for songs that contain five or more co-writers, like “Golden,” the winners are required to sign an agreement to share a trophy win.
Elsewhere during the ceremony, directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans accepted the award for Best Animated Feature, and EJAE sang “Golden” alongside Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
