Hans Zimmer has turned a behind-the-scenes scheduling decision into a public flashpoint, calling it a “shame” that the Golden Globes will not broadcast the Best Original Score category during this year’s telecast. His criticism lands at a moment when film music is more visible than ever, yet still treated as expendable when live shows tighten their runtimes.
The move has angered composers and cinephiles who see original score as a core part of how audiences experience movies, not a technical footnote. Zimmer’s comments frame the cut as more than a programming tweak, casting it instead as a statement about whose work is considered worthy of prime-time attention.
Zimmer’s sharp rebuke to the Golden Globes
Hans Zimmer’s frustration has been building since organizers informed nominees that Best Original Score would be removed from the CBS broadcast and handed out off-air. In interviews and public appearances, he has argued that sidelining the category “feels a little bit ignorant,” warning that it sends a message that music is optional rather than fundamental to storytelling, a point echoed in coverage of the telecast cut. For an industry that depends on emotional connection, he suggests, treating composers as an afterthought is a risky look.
Zimmer has also personalized the issue, describing how the demands of scoring keep him away from his family and joking that “Sometimes my children wonder who I am, I come into the house and they call the police,” a line reported from his reaction to the Golden Globes decision. That mix of humor and exasperation underscores his larger point: if the work is intense enough to reshape a composer’s life, it deserves to be recognized in the same spotlight as acting and directing, not shuffled into a commercial break.
“Don’t ignore composers”: why the category matters
Zimmer’s most pointed argument is that awards bodies should “not ignore” the people who write the music that shapes a film’s identity. In a widely shared clip, he said it is a “shame” the Golden Globes will not air the Original Score category and stressed that “you don’t have a movie without” composers, comments captured in a social media video. That sentiment has been amplified in follow-up coverage that repeats his plea not to “Ignore” the craft, with one report summarizing his warning that cutting the segment risks teaching audiences that music is disposable, as reflected in a Yahoo Entertainment recap.
His stance is not just self-interested. Zimmer is part of a field that includes Alexandre Desplat, Jonny Greenwood, and Ludwig Göransson, composers whose names now help market films in their own right. By removing the category from the broadcast, the Golden Globes effectively erase a rare moment when these artists are introduced to a mass audience, a concern echoed in reporting that describes how the acclaimed composer reacted to the snub. For Zimmer, the issue is symbolic: if the show cannot spare a few minutes for original score, what does that say about how the industry values the people who write it?
Winners off-air and the message to the industry
The irony is that this year’s Best Original Score lineup is unusually star-studded, which only heightens the sting of being pushed off-air. The category features Alexandre Desplat for “Frankenstein,” Ludwig Göransson for “Sinners,” Jonny Greenwood for “One Battle A…,” another nominee for “Hamnet,” and Hans Zimmer for “F1: The Movie,” a slate detailed in a complete winners list. Ludwig Göransson ultimately won Best Original Score at the Golden Globe Awards for “Sinners,” beating out Alexandre Despla and the rest of the field, a result highlighted in coverage of Göransson’s victory. Yet the decision to relegate that moment to an untelevised segment means viewers never see the winner speak or hear the music that earned the prize.
For many composers, that absence is the real loss. Awards shows are one of the few mainstream platforms where film music is performed, discussed, and briefly centered, and the Golden Globes’ last minute choice to skip the segment has been described as a snub that “feels a little bit ignorant,” language that appears in detailed accounts of how Zimmer slammed the. By treating Best Original Score as expendable, the show risks reinforcing a hierarchy in which music is celebrated only when it can be squeezed in, rather than recognized as one of the pillars that make cinema work in the first place.
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