‘Golden’ songwriters break silence after Oscars speech cutoff during historic win for 'K-Pop Demon Hunters’

The songwriting team behind ‘Golden’ used their backstage press room stop to finish the Oscars acceptance speech viewers never got to hear on live TV. Moments after the song won Best Original Song at the 98th Academy Awards, the group was played off mid-speech, cutting short what should have been a major moment for the team behind one of the biggest songs from ‘KPop Demon Hunters.' The win also marked a historic first, as ‘Golden’ became the first K-pop track to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

What happened after the speech was cut short

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the interruption happened just as Yu Han Lee began speaking onstage. The sudden cutoff, followed by a commercial break, drew gasps from reporters backstage. That reaction carried over into the press room, where the team returned to finish the thank-yous they had not been able to deliver during the broadcast.

EJAE told reporters, “We feel very grateful and very honored. We all worked so hard and this is such a collaborative effort, we just need to thank our directors. They created a beautiful film. Everyone was a part of it and we are just so happy that the hard work paid off.”

She also made clear that she still had more people to thank. “Also, I needed to thank Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna onstage, but I didn’t get to because they just cut us off. They killed it with their singing and they’re just incredible people and I love them so much.”

What the ‘Golden’ team said backstage

Lee also finished the remarks he had been unable to complete onstage. “I would like to thank all our families, my fellow Idol members and Teddy Park. This is an incredible honor,” he said.

Mark Sonnenblick, who also did not get a chance to speak during the telecast, used the backstage moment to stress the film’s wider message and the scale of the collaboration behind it. “[I’d like to thank] my family, some of whom are here tonight, my husband, Isaac, who is here tonight. But also just to say everybody who worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board,” he said.

He added, “It’s a movie where part of the movie is about looking at someone that you have been taught to hate and to fear and starting to trust, maybe even love them. And that’s part of what the movie is about.”

Sonnenblick ended with a line that tied the song to the night’s bigger feeling. “[The song lyrics are not] ‘I’m going up, up, up.’ It’s ‘We’re going up, up, up.’” ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ also won Best Animated Feature, giving the film an even bigger Oscar night.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”