_{Credit: 98th Academy Awards (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)}

At the 98th Academy Awards, host Conan O’Brien mentioned that in 2029, the Oscars would be moving from ABC to YouTube. Conan joked about the various ways this could affect the ceremony, from abrupt ad breaks to Mr. Beast becoming "Host For Life." While there’s reason to be skeptical of the move, YouTube has the potential to fix an ongoing nuisance at the Oscars: speeches being rudely interrupted by the dreaded playoff music. Every year, there’s usually at least one speech that’s brought to a screeching halt. This year, in particular, the music was more disruptive than, well, an ad for tactical flashlights featuring Jane Lynch.

One of the night’s most exciting moments saw a rare tie in Best Live-Action Short between The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. The latter’s co-director, Natalie Musteata, was permitted to give a speech. As Saliva’s fellow director, Alexandre Singh, began to speak, he wasn’t played off with music. Rather, the mic was cut, the lights dimmed, and the camera awkwardly shifted to Conan, who couldn’t contain his uncomfortable giggles. Ironically, this attempt to move the ceremony along stopped it dead in its tracks. With the show stalled, the camera returned to Singh, allowing him to finish. The producers still didn’t learn from this hiccup.

When Avatar: Fire and Ash won Best Visual Effects, Richard Baneham got to speak along with Eric Saindon, the latter of whom paid tribute to the late producer Jon Landau. Saindon had a few more words to say, but then the orchestra chimed in. Something similar happened when Avatar: The Way of Water won this award three years ago. Saindon kicked off the team’s acceptance speech, but Saindon got about seven words in before being cut off. At least Saindon had more time to speak this year.

The most tone-deaf example came when KPop Demon Hunters won Best Original Song for “Golden.” The song had seven credited winners: Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu-kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, and Teddy Park. Not only was “Golden” the first K-pop tune to win in this category, but multiple members of the songwriting team were of South Korean descent, marking another historic first. Ejae stands out as the first female South Korean artist to win in this category, as well as Rumi’s singing voice in the film. The tearful Ejae spoke about what it meant to her seeing a K-pop song embraced around the world before stepping aside so Yu Han Lee could get in a few words. Fewer than a few, as the music interjected.

Earlier in the evening, when KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature, directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans gave their speeches while the music cut into producer Michelle L.M. Wong’s. Thankfully, the music stopped in that case, allowing Wong to finish. Yu Han Lee, meanwhile, got to stay what he would’ve on stage in the press room. “I'd like to thanks our families, 24, my fellow IDO members, and Teddy Park,” he said. "This is an incredible honor." Mark Sonnenblick also said something that sticks out: “It’s not I’m going up, up, up. It’s we’re going up, up, up. That’s part of the reason we’re all on stage right now. This whole movie was a deep collaboration.” By only permitting one of seven individuals to speak, the show’s producers undermined this group effort.

'KPop Demon Hunters' songwriters react to getting cut off at the #Oscars after winning Best Song for "Golden" and finish their speech

Read more: https://t.co/0leputa07C pic.twitter.com/96dKLkewAZ

— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 16, 2026

This isn’t the first time that the folks behind the scenes diminished a milestone for South Korean artists. In 2020, Parasite won Best Picture, not only the first South Korean film to take home the top prize, but also the first non-English language winner. While the music didn’t play the Parasite team off, the lights above did suddenly dim. It wasn’t until the crowd protested, chanting, “Up, up, up,” that the lights went back on. Likewise, boos could be heard from the audience this year as the “Golden” team had their moment cut short.

The Academy requests that winners limit their speeches to 45 seconds. You could argue that rules are rules. The showrunners have constantly broken their own rule, however. Between slapping Chris Rock and a temporary ban from Academy ceremonies, Will Smith was permitted to give a nearly five-minute speech as he accepted a Best Actor Oscar. The producers have cooked up other “brilliant ideas” to move the show along at a faster pace. This year, “Golden” and “I Lied to You” were the only songs performed during the telecast, while the other three nominees were omitted. Even then, the people in charge couldn’t find the time to let one of those songwriters speak.

In an interview with Variety, Rob Mills of Walt Disney Television addressed the controversy, saying, “You win the Oscar, you know you go on stage, it could be one person, it could be five or six. Immediately, you’ll see the sort of allotted time we have for them. Do we need to look at it and say, okay, designate one person to speak. Maybe you continue it backstage, and we have a feed on social or something like that. We look at everything and figure out what is the most elegant solution, because it is difficult, especially when you’re cutting somebody off, and it’s their one moment. We talk about it at the award luncheon, that you have this designated time to speak, and it’s difficult. I don’t know what the most elegant solution is, but it’s obviously something we should look really, really long and hard at.”

Of course, this isn’t a new issue. It’s been an ongoing one for years with no signs of improvement. Chances are that an “elegant solution” won’t be found next year or the year after that. By 2029, though, ABC won’t be running the show anymore. One advantage of having the Oscars on YouTube is that the producers won’t have to worry about broadcast constraints, like wrapping up in time for local news. According to Variety, “the Academy has promised that winners will no longer be played off mid-speech by an orchestral.” Does that mean they could still be interrupted by a tactical flashlight ad? Time will only tell, but it’s a more elegant solution than having the conductor tell someone to get off stage.

Is it possible for a speech to drag on for too long or to become self-indulgent? Adrien Brody’s speech last year suggests so, clocking in at a record 5 minutes and 40 seconds. Brody even poked fun at himself this year, acting as if he was going to continue his speech as he presented Best Actor. That said, it can take years to make a movie. In KPop Demon Hunters’ case, it was reportedly a seven-year endeavor. Given the time it took to bring their craft from conception, to the screen, to the Oscars stage, is 5 minutes and 40 seconds really that long?

Now for the bigger question: will YouTube allow people to drop f-bombs in their speeches, or will the ceremony get demonitized?

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!