[SPOTV News=Kim Hyun-rok] Rob Mills, the The Walt Disney Company television executive responsible for broadcasting the 98th Academy Awards, addressed the abrupt cutoff of acceptance remarks for 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' and said his team will study fixes.
On March 15 in Los Angeles, Mills — senior vice president of Television at The Walt Disney Company — told Variety the situation is a difficult one and requires careful review.
Netflix’s animated film 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' took home two awards at the ceremony: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. The latter win became controversial after music from the orchestra began playing as additional composers attempted to speak, cutting their remarks short.
Some viewers reacted with outrage, accusing the action of racial insensitivity, and several international outlets labeled the moment among the ceremony’s worst.
Mills acknowledged criticism that the orchestra appeared to cut off the composers of the song "Golden" as if staff had not realized another winner intended to speak. He said the Academy and broadcast team will perform a post-event review and reassess how acceptance speeches are managed going forward.
He explained that when winners come onstage — whether it’s one person or a group of five or six — a visible timer immediately displays their allotted speaking time.
Mills said the team must weigh options: designate a single onstage representative while others speak from backstage, distribute additional comments via social media, or pursue another approach. He pledged to consider all possibilities and identify the most elegant solution.
“It’s a hard problem,” he added. “Cutting someone off in that single moment is especially difficult. We do communicate set speaking times at awards dinners as well, but it’s challenging. We don’t yet know the ideal fix, but we will study this carefully over time.”
