Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images; Enthuse EntertainmentThe Academy Awards are more than a month away and there's already drama!
On Tuesday night, the Academy's Board of Governors voted to rescind one of the nominees for Best Original Song.
"Alone Yet Not Alone," with music by Bruce Broughton and lyrics by Dennis Spiegel (from Alone Yet Not Alone), will no longer be nominated in the category.
The decision came about after it was revealed that Broughton, a former Governor and current Music Branch executive committee member, had emailed branch members during the nomination-voting period to make them aware that he had submitted his song.
The Academy didn't find his campaigning to be appropriate.
"No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one's position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one's own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage," said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
The board collectively determined that Broughton's actions did not fall under their long-standing code of conduct for Academy members.
According to their promotional rules and regulations, "It is the Academy's goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner. If any campaign activity is determined by the Board of Governors to work in opposition to that goal, whether or not anticipated by these regulations, the Board of Governors may take any corrective actions or assess any penalties that in its discretion it deems necessary to protect the reputation and integrity of the awards process."
The Academy decided not to name another nominee in the Original Song category as a replacement.
The current nominees are: "Happy" from Despicable Me 2, "Let It Go" from Frozen, "The Moon Song" from Her, and "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.