"KPop Demon Hunters" speech was cut at the 2026 Oscars, causing fans to criticize

Golden's songwriting team on the Oscar stage (screenshot)

JAKARTA - The 2026 Oscar event may run smoothly, but it is not free from audience criticism. The moment happened when the KPop Demon Hunters writing team won the Best Original Song category.

They won the category with the song Golden which is the soundtrack for the KPop film Demon Hunters. The writing team is EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park took to the stage to receive the award.

This historic moment marked the first K-pop song to win an Academy Award and the writers got the chance to give a speech. When the microphone was held by Yu Han Lee, the background music and commercials were spinning, cutting off their speech moment.

When backstage, EJAE as one of the writers explained the moment. They were grateful but regretted that their speech was cut.

"We feel very grateful and honored. We all worked hard and this is a collaborative effort, we just want to thank the director. They made a beautiful film. Everyone took part and we are very happy that our hard work paid off," EJAE said, quoting Deadline.

"I also want to thank Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna on stage but I can't because they cut our time. They showed the best with their singing and they are amazing people," he continued.

Yu Han Lee - another writer whose speech time was cut - said, "I want to thank all our families, our members and Teddy Park. It's a great honor."

Likewise, Sonnenblick said, "We want to thank the family who came tonight, my husband Isaac but also to everyone who worked on this film, all the animators who worked hard for this."

In addition to Best Original Song, KPop Demon Hunters also won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and marked the latest Korean film to win.

On the other hand, Sony Pictures Animation together with Netflix announced that the sequel to the KPop Demon Hunters film will be produced.