Why Isn’t Lady Gaga Performing ‘Hold My Hand’ From ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ At The Oscars?
Lady Gaga’s lone Oscar (so far) came in 2019 when “Shallow” won Best Original Song from A Star Is Born. Gaga is nominated in the same category at the 95th Academy Awards this Sunday, March 12, for “Hold My Hand,” her contribution to Best Picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick.
In 2019, Gaga was on hand and even performed “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper. But if she wins another Oscar for Best Original Song, she won’t be in attendance to accept it.
Variety has confirmed that Gaga will not perform “Hold My Hand” at the 2023 Oscars.
“We invited all five nominees. We have a great relationship with Lady Gaga and her camp. She is in the middle of shooting a movie right now,” Oscars executive producer and showrunner Glenn Weiss told the press on Wednesday, March 8. “Here, we are honoring 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 and that she is used to. So, she is not going to perform on the show.”
True Little Monsters already had a hunch that Gaga was too busy to attend the 2023 Oscars.
“Thank you so much to the Academy for nominating my song ‘Hold My Hand’ for an Oscar this year!” Gaga captioned an Instagram photo of her holding a bouquet of flowers on January 25. “Writing this song for the film Top Gun: Maverick was a deep and powerful experience that I will never forget. So grateful for the magic of music and cinema. Love you my co-writer @bloodpop I’m on set filming now big love to little monsters!”
Notably, Gaga punctuated her caption with the joker card emoji. She’s starring as Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips’ forthcoming film, Joker: Folie-à-Deux. The director shared a first look on Valentine’s Day.
Each of the other four Best Original Song nominees are scheduled to perform, including Rihanna. The category is rounded out by Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), “Applause” (Tell It Like A Woman), “Naatu Naatu” (RRR), and “This Is A Life” (Everything Everywhere All At Once).
The 2023 Oscars will air live on Sunday, March 12, beginning at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. The ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.