The Academy Clarifies Controversial Decision to Have Awards Presented During Commercial Breaks

The Academy is clarifying some information that has been spread about the decision to give out some trophies during commercial breaks in order to keep the broadcast time to three hours.

“As the Academy’s officers, we’d like to assure you that no award category at the 91st Oscars ceremony will be presented in a manner that depicts the achievements of its nominees and winners as less than any others,” the Academy said in a statement. “Unfortunately, as the result of inaccurate reporting and social media posts, there has been a chain of misinformation that has understandably upset many Academy members. We’d like to restate and explain the plans for presenting the awards, as endorsed by the Academy’s Board of Governors.”

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Here’s what the Academy said would actually happen on Sunday (February 24).

– All 24 Award categories are presented on stage in the Dolby Theatre, and included in the broadcast.

– Four categories – Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Live Action Short – were volunteered by their branches to have their nominees and winners announced by presenters, and included later in the broadcast. Time spent walking to the stage and off, will be edited out.

– The four winning speeches will be included in the broadcast.

– In future years, four to six different categories may be selected for rotation, in collaboration with the show producers. This year’s categories will be exempted in 2020.

– This change in the show was discussed and agreed to by the Board of Governors in August, with the full support of the branch executive committees. Such decisions are fully deliberated.

Check out the letter the Academy wrote here.