Lady Gaga is in high demand. Unfortunately for Little Monsters, the pop icon will not be performing her Oscar-nominated song “Hold My Hand” at the 2023 Academy Awards on Sunday because, well, she's too busy working on her next Oscar-bait project: Joker: Folie à Deux. Gaga will star as Harley Quinn in the sequel to 2018's Joker, which was nominated for 11 Oscars.
The news was announced at a March 8 press conference by the executive producer and showrunner of the Oscars, Glenn Weiss. “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, so she is not going to perform on the show,” he said. “She is in the middle of shooting a movie right now, and here we are honoring the movie industry and what it takes to make a movie.”
Though Gaga won't be taking the stage, her fellow best original song nominees, including Rihanna, are all slated to perform.
Gaga and her collaborator Bloodpop's “Hold My Hand,” from Top Gun: Maverick, is up against Rihanna, Tems, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson's “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; David Byrne, Mitski, and Ryan Lott's “This Is Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once; M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose's “Naatu Naatu” from RRR; and Diane Warren's “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman.
Though Lady Gaga isn't on the set list, it's possible that she'll still make it onstage to accept her second Academy Award. And, if you're feeling nostalgic, you can always stream her electric 2018 Oscars performance of “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper on YouTube.
