As most of you know by now, and has been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. (isn’t that a great name?) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has asked YouTube to take down all the clips from the Oscar Telecast a few Sundays ago, citing copyright issues.
But not in Spanish, apparently.
The Academy, in its wisdom [sic], scrubbed Jerry Seinfeld’s hilarious introduction to the Best Documentary Film Category which includes a cool riff on movie theatre etiquette. However, a version dubbed in Spanish, survives. But if you’re Spanish isn’t that great you can hear Jerry in English under the voice over.
The Academy may be legally correct in demanding the take-downs, but it’s just so old school. Couldn’t the Academy 1) anticipated this was going to happen ( I mean come on people — Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce singing live, Martin Scorcese finally winning an Oscar, Al Gore — America has TiVo and by gosh they are going to use it); 2) Provided their own clips, which they could have teased for weeks on the site 3) Directed viewers to the ABC or perhaps the Academy Web site to see officially sanctioned highlights. If you can watch Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty on the ABC site, why not some Oscar highlights. And you get to make money from interstitial adversiting, fellas. Oh wait! There are some clips from the Oscars on Oscar.com, but they are you know … lame. And Go Fug Yourself has Oscar fashion complete with the snarky comments we were all saying at home … only you know .. funnier.
Oscar missed a — pardon the expression — golden opportunity– on both its own Web site and on YouTube to provide a second look the actual highlights from the show: the the watercooler clips, like Jerry, Jennifer, Marty and Al. Like it or not, media companies like Viacom and the Motion Picture Academy are going to have to develop media plans that include distributing, relevant clips to the Web, or rent another floor for their soon to be exploding legal department.
Oh, and if you hurry — you can still catch the Scorsese acceptance speech and the Dreamgirls medley. I’m listening to them right this second.