Peter Gabriel Will Not Perform at Oscars

by Jarrett Martineau | February 13, 2009 at 08:42 am

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Musician Peter Gabriel will not be performing at this year's Oscars after the Academy Awards event producer asked him to cut back the performance of his nominated song to just one minute of stage time.

Thankfully, the incredibly talented Soweto Gospel Choir are expected to take Gabriel's place and perform the condensed version on Oscar night.

For more on this year's Academy Awards, check out NowPublic's featured Oscar coverage.

The singer has pulled out of performing his Best Song nomination on the awards show after producers, in one of their many concerted efforts this year to increase telecast ratings and otherwise shake things up, limited him to just 65 seconds on stage.

His nominated tune, "Down to Earth" from Wall-E, clocks in at just under six minutes.

"I'm an old fart and it's not going to do me any harm to make a little protest," Gabriel said in a video posted to his website. "But the ceremony should be fun and I'm looking forward to it."

In his place, Gabriel said he hopes the Soweto Gospel Choir would step in to perform the highly condensed version of the song, expected to be part of a medley with the other two Best Song nominees, A.R. Rahman's "Jai Ho" and "O Saya," both from Slumdog Millionaire.