The film academy explains why Lady Gaga will not perform her song nominated at the Oscars 2023

Sorry Little Monsters: Lady Gaga will not perform at Sunday’s 95th Academy Awards.

Executive producer and Oscar showrunner Glenn Weiss dashed the hopes of Gaga fans when he confirmed Wednesday that the Oscar and Grammy-winning artist, who is nominated this year for her power ballad “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Hold My Hand”, will not take the stage to sing the song.

In a Zoom call with entertainment journalists on Wednesday, Weiss explained that the artists performing this year’s Oscar-nominated original songs were invited to perform, but the “Shallow” singer couldn’t make it work.

“We invited the five nominees. We have a great relationship with Lady Gaga and her field. She’s in the middle of filming a movie right now,” Weiss said.

“Here we are honoring the movie industry and what it takes to make a movie. And after a lot of back and forth, it didn’t seem like she could get a performance of the caliber that we’re used to with her and that she’s used to. So she won’t be acting on the show.”

However, it is not clear if he will still attend the show, which will take place on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Gaga has previously performed during the internationally televised ceremony three times.

In 2015, she sang a medley of “The Sound of Music” for the film’s 50th anniversary and was joined on stage by the film’s star, Julie Andrews. In 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden introduced her rendition of “Til It Happens to You,” her emotional ballad from the sexual assault documentary “The Hunting Ground,” as she was flanked at the piano by survivors of sexual assault. And in 2019, she performed an intimate duet with her “A Star Is Born” co-star Bradley Cooper, the same year the song earned Gaga her first Academy Award.

This year, the pop superstar shares his nomination for “Hold My Hand” with musician BloodPop. They face off on the original song’s field against “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” and “This Is a Life.” “. from “Everything Everywhere, Everything at Once”.

“Lift Me Up” singer Rihanna was the first to be announced as a performer for this year’s ceremony. Her announcement was followed by that of Sofia Carson, who, accompanied by songwriter Diane Warren, will perform “Applause.” That song marks Warren’s 14th Oscar nomination. She was previously nominated alongside Gaga for “Til It Happens to You” and received an honorary award at the Governors Academy Awards in November.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads, also an Oscar winner, will take the stage to sing “This Is a Life” with supporting actress nominee Stephanie Hsu and musical trio Son Lux. And “Naatu Naatu” singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava will make their Oscar debut performing their song.

Rock superstar Lenny Kravitz will also perform during the In Memoriam segment.

The 95th Academy Awards, hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, will air live on ABC Sunday at 5 pm Pacific time.

Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.