For a second consecutive year, discussions around whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would address the Oscar audience remained unresolved. As reports from Variety detail, Zelensky had appeared virtually at the Berlin Film Festival in February and hoped to extend that visibility to the Academy Awards ceremony broadcast on ABC. Yet, the Academy reportedly chose not to include him in the telecast, a decision that drew sharp commentary from industry insiders and observers alike.
In its coverage, Variety highlighted that an approach from William Morris Endeavor (WME) superintendent Mike Simpson asked the Academy to consider featuring a performer who evolved into a political figure, but the request did not move the needle. The timing sits within a broader conversation about public engagement with Kyiv’s leadership among U.S. audiences, where polls have shown fluctuating levels of support for continued aid and involvement in Ukraine’s war effort.
Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini, the former deputy prime minister and Italy’s minister of transport and infrastructure, commented on Zelensky’s absence from a prominent European music event. Salvini stated that Zelensky would not be invited to speak during the Sanremo Music Festival, and on the festival’s final evening, February 11, he would not attend to hear a political address. Salvini argued that the competition’s stage should remain focused on music rather than the broader tema of war, especially as Italy’s leading artists prepared to perform.