The Academy Revokes Best Original Song Nomination For "Alone Yet Not Alone"

The Academy has revoked Alone Yet Not Alone’s nomination for Best Original Song amid controversy.

“Alone Yet Not Alone,” the original song performed by Evangelical minister, Joni Eareckson Tada, in the religious film.

The nomination in itself was a complete surprise, as Alone Yet Not Alone is a very small film with a very limited release. It had been reported that a film that did not receive a nomination for Best Original Song hired a private investigator and petitioned the Academy to remove the song from consideration because the film had not complied with print promotion rules the Academy has for any potential nominees. At the time of the report, the Academy remained firm in their decision and stated that “Alone Yet Not Alone” would remain on the ballot.

The Academy changed their tune after it was discovered that songwriter Bruce Broughton had promoted the song by taking advantage of the contacts he had met during his time as Governor of the music branch of the Academy. Broughton represented the music branch from 2003 to 2012 as a member of the Academy board of governors and admitted to having contacted some of his former colleges about the song.

Broughton maintains that his comments were innocent and well within the lines. He made a point of comparing his film to others with bigger budgets, saying he simply e-mailed a few colleagues to ask them to look at the song because Alone Yet Not Alone did not have any publicity or Oscar campaign money.

“What happens is that the music branch of the Academy puts all the songs on a disc and I was concerned that this song would be really easy to overlook. So, yeah, I wrote some people and said, ‘Could you just take a look.’ That was literally the extent of the campaigning. I received in the mail songs from other films that were perssed and recorded CDs. We didn’t do anything like that,” Broughton insisted.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences convened a vote Tuesday night at a Governors Board meeting and voted to take “Alone Yet Not Alone” off Oscar ballots and out of competition.

“The decision was prompted by the discovery that Broughton, a former Governor and current Music Branch executive committee member, had emailed members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period,” reads a press release from the Academy on the matter.

Academy President, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, also addressed the issue publicly, saying that, while she understands how Broughton’s actions may have seemed innocent to him, the error is too much to overlook.

“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,” Isaacs said.

Broughton, clearly upset, expressed his outrage at the decision, saying, “I’m devastated. I indulged in the simplest grass-roots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention. I got taken down by competition that has months of promotion and advertising behind them. I simply asked people to find the song and consider it.”

Tada herself commented on the Academy’s decision on her blog and is choosing to focus on the film’s upcoming June release: “I am grateful that this media flurry has, no doubt, generated interest in the release of Alone Yet Not Alone which will be out in theaters this June!”

The Academy announced that it would not be announcing a replacement nominee, reportedly angering those who felt snubbed. Instead, the remaining four songs will compete for the Oscar:

“The Moon Song” – Her

“Let It Go” – Frozen

“Happy – Despicable Me 2

“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

The 86th Oscars, hosted for the second time by Ellen DeGeneres, will air Sunday, March 2, 2014 live on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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