Academy Disqualifies Robbie Williams’ ‘Better Man’ Track from Oscar Eligibility

Photo Credit: Better Man from Paramount Pictures

Despite making the finalists for Best Original Song at the Oscars, the Academy disqualifies Robbie Williams’ track from his recent biopic.Robbie Williams’ song, “Forbidden Road” from his recent biopic, Better Man, has been disqualified from Oscar eligibility at this year’s Academy Awards, despite having made the shortlist of 15 finalists.

Written by Williams, Freddy Wexler, and Sacha Skarbek, the song was recently nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes. But “Forbidden Road” won’t be up for an Oscar, despite the shortlist being announced shortly before Williams’ Golden Globe nom. There will be no replacement nomination.

The film, Better Man, does remain shortlisted for the Oscar category for Visual Effects, however, as the movie shows Williams visually portrayed as a chimpanzee. Better Man is one of ten finalists for the shortlist of eventual five nominations in that category.

“It is always nice to be invited to the party — or should I say considered to be invited to the party,” said Williams of his nomination before it was revealed the song would be disqualified.

“Forbidden Road” reportedly features material from a previous song not written for Better Man, which is prohibited for Academy music nom eligibility. The category is specifically for songs written directly for a motion picture. Deadline mentions the track “I Got A Name,” written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel for the 1973 film The Last American Hero features similarities to “Forbidden Road.” Fox is a longtime member of the AMPAS Board of Governors.A letter went out to the over 400 members of the Academy’s music branch, explaining the decision. Reportedly, the similarities between the two songs only came to the attention of the branch executive committee this week, with the decision coming only yesterday (December 19).

Songs being disqualified after initially qualifying for the Oscar shortlist is surprisingly not new. The 2013 film Alone Yet Not Alone’s title song was disqualified after the song’s composer, Bruce Broughton — a former AMPAS music branch governor — lobbied members in his branch to vote for the song, which is expressly forbidden by the Academy. No replacement was nominated, and only four songs competed that year.