The Little League world took a turn for the sadder yesterday when it was announced that Jackie Robinson West, a team of youth baseball players from the South Side of Chicago, would have its 2014 Great Lakes Regional title revoked. The team, which would lose during a dramatic showdown with the team from South Korea in the World Series Title, turned out to be made up of players gathered from outside of its official "assigned boundaries." In other words, the coach and other scheming adults incorporated children into a super-team. The players weren't aware what was going on but now they'll suffer the most disappointment, as will their hometown.
The revocation of awards is more rare in the entertainment industry than the athletic industry. There are just only so many ways you can cheat. Nonetheless, it's happened. Here are five cases of an award or nomination being revoked in music.
Milli Vanilli (Grammy, 1990)
We'll get the obvious one out of the way first: Milli Vanilli is notorious for having its 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist rescinded, and indeed it would be the only time in the show's history where a trophy was taken back. The band's winning was no surprise: Girl You Know It's True went six-times platinum before the ceremony even occurred. Unfortunately, all throughout the lead-up to the awards ceremony, questions lingered about the legitimacy of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. For one, their English wasn't so great during interviews. That was no problem, except they sang English great. Also, the duo was caught in an obvious lip-synching scenario when a recording at a concert became stuck on loop. Although one of the actual vocalists actually came foreword and acknowledged during 1989 that he was one of the real vocalists, the Recording Academy trusted that his later retraction wasn't a hush-job. The Los Angeles Times put the subject to rest with a "shocking" exposé during 1990. The Grammy was taken back, but not given to another performer. A bummer for Neneh Cherry.
The Godfather Score (Oscar, 1972)
The Godfather was a great movie in nearly every facet, and everyone at the Academy and elsewhere knew it. That's why it received 11 Oscar nominations, more than any other film at the 1972 ceremony. One of the nominees was the score of Nino Rota, an operatic collection that ensured everything in the film felt Italian, even if it took place in America (Director Francis Ford Coppola's father even composed some of the wedding band's music). The problem was that Rota copied a significant portion of the score...from himself. The Academy ruled that the motif from The Godfather sounded too much like Fortunella, a 1958 film also scored by Rota. The nomination was rescinded and awarded to John Addison and Sleuth instead. Charlie Chaplin would end up winning for Limelight. The guy knew sound AND silence.
Miley Cyrus (Grammy, 2009)
Miley Cyrus was causing trouble well before she started dancing on Robin Thicke. Considerably less interesting trouble, but still. Back when she was still selling the Hannah Montana character, Hannah Montana: The Movie was tearing it up at the box office. So much so that the 2009 MTV Movie Awards gave her a Moonman for Best Song From A Movie for "The Climb." The Grammys bit as well, giving Cyrus a nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Disney played it honest and came forward to note that technically the song hadn't been written for the film itself...it just first appeared as as the first single for the film's promotion. In short, Disney snitched Cyrus out, robbing her of her then-first Grammy nomination. She still hasn't won to this day. This could explain a lot in her transformation to bad girl the next year on 2010's Can't Be Tamed.
Bruce Broughton (Oscar, 2014)
One nomination surprised voters about as much as any during the lead-up to the 2014 Academy Awards: "Alone But Not Alone," a little known song from a little known film of the same name, composed by Bruce Broughton. The film, based around a family of colonists kidnapped by Native Americans during the French and Indian War, was far from a masterpiece. The heavy-handed Christian motifs don't bother us as much as the generally racist portrayal of the natives. All that aside, Broughton didn't do too badly in adapting a new version of the German prayer song the film is named after but he stepped over the line when he began e-mailing Academy voters to check it out. In his defense, no one had heard of his song at that point so he was going to need help in building hype. Not in his defense, he was a executive committee member of the Academy's music branch. They saw it as the composer unfairly playing the crowd and took back his nomination.
Calico The Band (Artists In Music Awards, 2014)
You may not have heard of the Artists in Music Awards...in fact you probably haven't. Not many people have. More and more agencies and groups launch their own award ceremonies every year, it becomes increasingly difficult for musicians to attend every one, in between touring and recording and such. Granted, Calico the Band isn't getting nominated for every show but one way or another they couldn't...or straight-up didn't...attend the Artists in Music Awards, then in its third year. Several days after Calico (who of course didn't know they would win at the time) failed to turn up, the promoters behind the ceremony revoked the Best Country Artist prize and gave it to McKenna Loren instead, writing a strongly-worded explanation involving the word "disrespectful." So not only did Calico not get its award, Loren has to smile awkwardly knowing that she only got the "best" prize because the real winner didn't show up.
© 2024 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
