Lana Del Rey‘s chances at nabbing an Oscar for Best Original Song could be subject to a sabotage campaign launched by an unknown party, with members of the Motion Picture Academy music selection committee receiving anonymously-sent false news reports alleging the star is ineligible.
As Deadline reports, members of the committee received a printout of an online Variety article alleging Del Rey’s song Young and Beautiful from The Great Gatsby soundtrack had been disqualified from consideration, though no such article ever appeared on the industry site.
According to the fake article, Young and Beautiful is ineligible as a result of a release date technicality. The song, along with four others from the soundtrack remain eligible for consideration, while studio and label management have so far been unable to trace the report’s sender.
Smear campaigns are not foreign elements to the Academy Awards, with barbs often launched at the veracity of films alleged to be true stories. In 2004, a false rumour circulated alleging Kathleen “Bird” York‘s song In The Deep was years old before appearing on the Crash soundtrack.
However Lana Del Rey may have other problems, with Hitfix reporting that rumours are slowly beginning to circulate that Young and Beautiful may have been written separately from The Great Gatsby, as was the case with Come What May from Baz Luhrmann‘s earlier film, Moulin Rouge.
Despite the apparent sabotage plot, Warner Bros, who released the film, is continuing with their Oscar bid, set to launch an online campaign highlighting the song and its relationship to the film, soon. The longlist for Best Original Score was recently unveiled, featuring Arcade Fire and M83.
(Via The Guardian)
Watch: Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful
