KPop Demon Hunters' hit song, “Golden,” became the first K-pop song to win Best Original Song at the 2026 Oscars.
However, on Sunday night, when the song’s seven writers—EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu-Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, and Teddy Park—went onstage to accept the award, they were cut off mid-speech.
“Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone is singing our song and all the Korean lyrics,” EJAE, who sings the voice of Rumi in the film, told the audience. “This award is not about success. It’s about resilience.”
When Yuhan began to speak, he was interrupted by the music, and the broadcast went to commercial, prompting boos from the audience.
According to Billboard, the songwriters continued their speech backstage, where Yuhan thanked “our families, and 24, and our fellow IDO members,” and called the award “an incredible honor.”
Sonnenblick offered his full speech. “My family, some of them here tonight—my husband is here tonight,” he said.
“Everybody who worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board.” He added: “Part of the movie is about looking at someone that you had been taught to hate and to fear, and starting to trust, maybe love them. A movie is like a village, and we’re lucky to be up here right now, but there’s so many people who have made this what it is.”
In addition to “Golden” becoming the first K-pop song to win Best Original Song at the Oscars, it’s also the first song with more than four writers to win, and the first best song winner where all of the writers didn’t each receive a trophy.
The Motion Picture Academy only allots up to four individual trophies for Best Original Song. When five or more writers win, they must sign an agreement to share only one statuette.
EJAE, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna performed “Golden,” making it only one of two original songs to be performed at the awards show.
In addition to Best Original Song, KPop Demon Hunters won the award for Best Animated Feature.
