Disqualified Oscar Nominee Lashes Out at Academy

Credit: Enthuse Entertainment

Bruce Broughton is mad as hell and he's not going to take this any more!

The songwriter, whose Oscar nomination for Best Original Song was rescinded following accusations of illegal lobbying, has lashed out at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its decision to disqualify "Alone Yet Not Alone" (from the little-seen Biblical drama of the same name) from the Oscar race.

Broughton, at one time a governor of the Music Branch of the Academy, in addition to serving as head of the branch’s executive committee for four years, was accused of violating campaigning tactics after he emailed voters in the branch to draw attention to the song. In a statement, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs cited this as her incentive for disqualifying the song, as Broughton's access to Academy members gave him an undue advantage. Isaacs also justified her decision by citing how Broughton compromised the anonymity of the voting process, in which eligible songs are listed by name and film, with no mention of songwriter/composer, in order to avoid favoritism.

However, Broughton doesn't intend to take his disqualification lying down. In an open letter, he defends his actions by claiming they were not in violation of either the ethical standards or the black-and-white rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In fact, Broughton goes one step further by citing Isaacs's own conflicts of interest from her work as a film marketing executive.

You can read the full letter, to Academy communications director Teri Melidonian, CEO Dawn Hudson and Issacs herself, below:

Dear Teri,

I just looked at the Academy release of the rescinding of the nomination and came upon this line in the penultimate paragraph: “Members were asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five nominees in the category.” This isn’t at all accurate.

What the letter that Charlie Fox sent to accompany the DVD actually said was: “When making your voting selections, simply select up to five songs in order of your preference. We hope that you will watch (italics mine) the enclosed DVD and use it to better inform your voting decision.”

Based upon that italicized phrase, I decided to send some emails.

Furthermore, if, as you quote the Academy’s rules, “it is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner,” and my 70 or so emails constitutes a breach of that standard, why could the current Academy president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, consult on Academy Award nominated projects like The Artist, The King’s Speech and others with a history as an Academy governor that far exceeds mine and at the same time produce the Governors’ Ball without having that look like a breach of the same standard?

I am of course copying Dawn Hudson on this email, and would have included Cheryl if I had had her email address.

Best regards,

Bruce Broughton

So whose side are you on? Were they right to disqualify him? Or is this all one big overreaction? Are you Team Bruce or Team Academy? Sound off in the comments!

Via: TheWrap