Oscars 2023: Lady Gaga Not Performing At Ceremony Due To Scheduling Conflicts With Joker 2 Filming

Bad news for Lady Gaga: She'll not be performing at the Oscars on Sunday (or Monday morning SGT). 

Gaga, 36, is nominated alongside Bloodpop (aka Michael Tucker) for 'Hold My Hand' from the Top Gun: Maverick in the Best Original Song category. 

According to reports, Gaga is unable to join the other shortlisted artists at the Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre due to scheduling conflicts with Joker: Folie a Deux, in which she plays Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix's titular master criminal. 

The other nominated acts confirmed to perform include Rihanna ('Lift Me Up' from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever); Sofia Carson and Diane Warren ('Applause' from Tell It Like a Woman); David Byrne, Son Lux and Stephanie Hsu ('This Is a Life' from Everything Everywhere All at Once; and Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava ('Naatu Naatu' from RRR).

Oscars executive producer and showrunner Glenn Weiss said during the Oscars Creative Team press conference: "We have great relationships with Lady Gaga and her camp [but] she's in the middle of shooting a movie right now, and here we are honouring the movie industry and what it takes to make a movie.

"After a bunch of back and forth, it didn't feel like she can get a performance to the caliber that we're used to with her, that she's used to and all that stuff."

"So she is not going to perform on the show, however, this is all, from our point of view, about someone making a movie and us completely understanding that that's what is priority in this business, especially when we are honoring movies."

Gaga is no stranger to the Oscars. In 2019, she was up for Best Actress for Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born and won Best Original Song for 'Shallow', which she shared with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.

The filming of Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to Todd Phillips' Joker, started in December, with Phillips sharing a first look of Gaga and Phoenix on Valentine's Day. The movie is expected to be released in October 2024.

In other Oscars news, the showrunners also promise not to play off winners if their acceptance speeches are a bit, you know, long. 

Co-executive producer and showrunner Ricky Kirshner said, “If you are giving a heartfelt, well-meaning speech, you will not get cut off."

He added, “If you start reading off your grocery list of what you need to do tomorrow, probably the music’s gonna come in.”

At last month's Oscar luncheon, Academy president Janet Yang did warn the nominees to keep their speeches short and sweet — no longer than 45 seconds. 

“You’ve got to work with us,” she said. “This is live television after all. Translation: keep it short, sweet, and to the point, please.”

Mediacorp will livestream the 95th Academy Awards on meWATCH and Channel 5 on Mar 13, starting from 6.30am SG for the red carpet, while the main show kicks off at 8am.— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos

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