Robbie Williams’ “Forbidden Road” disqualified from Oscars shortlist https://t.co/TvO5bN1PQ8
— Stereogum (@stereogum) December 20, 2024
The Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, starring a CGI monkey, is out this week. “Forbidden Road,” a song Williams ostensibly wrote for the movie, was shortlisted for the Oscars last week but has since been disqualified from contention.
Members of the Academy’s music branch received a letter announcing the song was disqualified because it (allegedly) “incorporates material from an existing song that was not written” for the movie. The eligibility rules for the Oscars’ Best Original Song category state that the words and music “must be original and written specifically for the motion picture.”
An Academy representative confirmed the existing song in question is the 1973 Jim Croce track “I Got a Name,” written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel and used as the theme for 1973 sports drama The Last American Hero. Fox is also one of three governors for the Academy’s music branch.
Hear (and compare) the two songs below:
the similarities are pretty egregious imo, not sure how it made the shortlist in the first place
