The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has taken a rare move by rescinding an Oscar nomination. The Board of Governors decided Wednesday that songwriter Bruce Broughton violated campaign regulations in order to get the title song for the little-seen film Alone Yet Not Alone a Best Original Song Oscar nomination.
Broughton was a former governor of AMPAS’ Music Branch and also its executive committee head for four years, notes TheWrap. He sent emails to voters in order to get his song a nomination and managed to succeed, even though Alone Yet Not Alone was never shown outside of a single week in Encino, Calif. in 2013.
“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,” AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement posted at Deadline.
The nomination for Alone Yet Not Alone shocked everyone in Hollywood, since there were several well-known artists who were eligible for the Oscar, but were shut out. That included Lana Del Rey's The Great Gatsby song and Coldplay's contribution to the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack.
With “Alone Yet Not Alone” disqualified, the remaining Original Song nominees are: Frozen’s “Let It Go”; Despicable Me 2’s “Happy”; “Moon Song” from Her; and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom’s “Ordinary Love.”
image: ABC