Nikki Finke is reporting Peter Gabriel has written a letter to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences saying he will not be performing at this year’s Oscars. Gabriel was set to perform his Oscar nominated tune “Down to Earth” from WALL•E, but apparently believes the nominated songs, and their writers and performers, aren’t getting enough respect during this year’s Oscars telecast as the show’s producers, Larry Mark and Bill Condon, have reduced the song segment to a medley of the three songs nominated.
Along with “Down to Earth,” the songs “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire make up the nominees and Finke’s sources tell her 90 seconds have been allotted for each song in the medley. “Down to Earth” has a running time of 5:57 while “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” run 5:19 and 3:33 respectively. This tells me the producers see this as an opportunity to save about 10 minutes of time from the telecast, but I am also going to assume they have a couple of video montages and perhaps a speech from AMPAS President Sid Ganis to fill in the saved time. Personally I would rather hear the music.
Gabriel’s letter to AMPAS as quoted by Finke goes as follows:
I don’t feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and I have decided to withdraw from performing,” Gabriel informed AMPAS. “I fully respect and look forward to the producers’ right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the filmmaking process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team, and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created in part at their expense.”
You can believe someone will be singing in Gabriel’s place which I would think he would see as a larger show of disrespect, but when you make a stand on a song at the Oscars I think you have thrown logic out the window.
