Oscar producer Rob Mills says the Academy will closely review how acceptance speeches are timed and managed after backlash over cutting short the "KPop Demon Hunters" songwriting team during the 2026 Oscars.

The controversy began when "Golden" from the animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" won best original song at the 98th Academy Awards, making history as the first K-pop song to win in the category.

As some of the seven credited songwriters tried to speak, the orchestra played them off, and the telecast cut to commercial, prompting boos inside the Dolby Theatre and anger online from viewers who felt the moment was mishandled, according to E! Online.

In a post-show interview, Mills said show executives will "look at how we're handling speeches" in their post-mortem for next year's broadcast.

He suggested the Academy may consider stricter limits on how many people speak on stage or shifting parts of longer speeches to backstage or social media feeds so winners still feel heard while the live show stays on time.​

Mills acknowledged that cutting off winners during what is often a once-in-a-lifetime moment is "difficult" and that producers need to find a more "elegant solution" for group wins.

He noted that winners are told about time limits at the Oscars nominees luncheon, but said the incident shows the need to study the format "really, really long and hard," IGN reported.​

The "Golden" team's speech gained more attention because of the song's historic status and the film's strong showing, with "KPop Demon Hunters" also winning best animated feature.

After the cutoff, the songwriters finished their remarks backstage in the Oscars press room, where they spoke at greater length about representation, resilience, and the collaboration behind the film.

Mills did not promise a specific rule change but confirmed that speech management will be a key topic as producers plan the 2027 ceremony, as per Mandatory.