Herald News Services
LOS ANGELES — Pharrell Williams will perform at the Academy Awards, which will be telecast on March 2.
Oscar producers said the producer-performer will sing his nominated song “Happy.” There was no word on whether his Grammy Award-stealing hat would make an appearance.
Williams wrote “Happy” for “Despicable Me 2.” It’s nominated for original song along with U2’s “Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel from “Frozen” and Karen O’s “The Moon Song” from “Her.”
The 40-year-old Williams has been on quite a run with prominent roles in the recent hits “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines” and with four Grammy wins, including producer of the year.
The field of nominated songs dropped from five to four last week when Bruce Broughton’s “Alone Yet Not Alone” in the movie of the same name, was taken off the list because Broughton emailed members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to draw attention to the song.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the academy, clarified the revocation.
“It’s not about a punishment,” Isaacs said, “but protecting the integrity of our voting process.”
Broughton became the first person to have his Oscar nomination revoked on ethical grounds.
“I’m dropping you a line to boldly direct your attention to entry 57,” Broughton wrote in his e-mail to 70 members of the academy’s msuic branch.
“I’m sending this note only because it is extremely unlikely that this small, independent, faith-based film will be seen by any music branch member; it’s the only way I can think of to have anyone be aware of the song.”
Isaacs said that the “key point” in the academy’s nullification of Broughton’s nomination was its violation of Rule 5.3, requiring that the credits of composer and lyricist be removed from the DVD of eligible songs sent to members of the music branch.
“The idea,” Isaacs said, “is that people are voting solely for the song and not who wrote it.” anonymity.
“He exerted undue influence,” Isaacs said, “using information that only an academy insider would have.”
“There are numerous films with limited promotional budgets,” Isaacs said. “This (“Alone Yet Not Alone”) was one that almost nobody knew.”
As to why the academy didn’t replace Broughton’s nomination with another song, Isaacs cited rule 5.7, which reads: “In the event a nominated achievement is declared ineligible by the academy, it shall not be replaced, and the category will remain with one less nomination.”
Broughton said he was simply trying to draw attention to his independent movie, e-mailing people he knew, whose addresses, he said, came from his own personal contact list, not an academy database.
“They had previews and parties and huge promotion,” Broughton said of the studio campaigns for Oscar-nominated songs from other films, which include box-office hits such as “Frozen” and “Despicable Me 2.”
“We had no budget. There’s no Oscar campaign. All there is is this really stupid e-mail that went out to about 70 people saying, ‘Please look at my song,’” Broughton said.
