Source From The 2026 Oscars Responds To The Intense Backlash Of Muting “Kpop Demon Hunters” Winners’ Speech

At the 98th Academy Awards, the controversy over the acceptance speech of the K-Pop Demon Hunters team being cut off mid-speech has been addressed by the production side.

Rob Mills, Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Television, who oversaw the broadcast, acknowledged in a March 16 (local time) interview with Deadline that it was “a difficult issue.”

During the ceremony, after “K-Pop Demon Hunters” won Best Original Song, members including Lee Jae were delivering their acceptance speech when background music began playing, cutting their remarks short and drawing disappointment.

Regarding this, Rob Mills explained, “It’s a difficult issue. The broadcast has to end within a set time. Everyone knows this. We even discuss it at the nominees’ luncheon, and there’s a large screen showing a countdown.”

He added,“We don’t want anyone to leave feeling upset or only remember that moment, so we need to seriously review this afterward.”

He also mentioned possible improvements, such as selecting a single representative speaker or providing additional opportunities to speak backstage or through social media.

However, he emphasized that “the biggest challenge every year is fitting everything within the broadcast time,” noting that options like pre-recording or cutting certain categories have been discussed but remain difficult to implement.

He concluded, “There’s no perfect solution, but we try to capture as many meaningful moments as possible. I hope this issue won’t be repeated next year.”

Meanwhile, “K-Pop Demon Hunters” is a Netflix animated film about a K-pop girl group that are stars on stage and demon hunters off stage. It won both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at this year’s Academy Awards.