Peter Gabriel Not Performing At Oscars Out of Protest

This years Academy Awards took a big risk by only nominating three songs in the Best Original Song category, and it looks as though it has backfired: Peter Gabriel, who was nominated for Down To Earth from Wall-E, will not perform at the ceremony. Gabriel is protesting the producers decision to only allow him to perform 65 seconds of the track as part of a medley.

We were originally hoping to perform, he said. Wed assumed, as there are only three nominees, that the songs would be performed in full. But the producers came in to revamp it as audience figures were falling off, Gabriel said in a video on his Website, So Ive now decided to withdraw from the ceremony, but Ill still go along. I do think its a bit unfortunate. I do think songwriters, even though theyre a small part of the filmmaking process we still work bloody hard and I think deserve a place in the ceremony as well.

Gabriel is likely the favorite to win the award, having won the Best Song From a Motion Picture trophy at last weekends Grammy Awards. The other nominees for Best Song at the Oscars are a pair of Slumdog Millionaire songs, Jai Ho and O Saya, which features M.I.A. Given that M.I.A. will most likely have given birth to her child by the February 22nd ceremony, her presence at the Oscars isnt guaranteed either. Thus, the Academy Awards may be faced with the absence of two of three Best Song nominees. We bet theyre wishing they hadnt snubbed Bruce Springsteens The Wrestler right about now.

The Oscars have relied on other artists to perform songs in place of the original singer in years past. Think Robin Williams singing Blame Canada from that South Park movie. But itll be awkward to get a replacement for Gabriel when the former Genesis singer is sitting in the crowd. So Im an old fart, and its not going to do me any harm to make a little protest. But the ceremony will be fun and Im looking forward to it, Gabriel said.

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