Weird Al Yankovic’s new biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, is out on Roku starting on November 4. With Daniel Radcliffe playing the famous accordion parody star, Yankovic is releasing an original song for the soundtrack called “Now You Know.” According to Decider, it also features the lyric, “This song is technically eligible for Oscar consideration!” — which he was hoping to be nominated for.
However, he tells the publication that Roku is not submitting his new song for Oscar consideration, much to his dismay. “I’ve been begging Roku for months to make that happen,” Yankovic said. “All that needs to happen is the movie needs to play in a small theater in Los Angeles for one week. That’s all that needs to happen. And Roku does not want to do that.”
He notes that they do plan to submit it for Emmy consideration — which would’ve deemed it ineligible had they submitted Yankovic’s song for the Oscars.
“It breaks my heart. I figured this is my one chance at an Oscar nomination,” he continued. “I don’t agree with this logic, but they say that they’re in the TV business, not the movie business. So they would rather have a Creative Arts Emmy than an Oscar, is what I was told. So again, it feels like weird logic to me, but I have to accept that. I don’t hold any grudges. I mean, I’m just thankful the movie got made.” Reps from Roku confirmed the lack of submission to Decider.
Even the stars of Radcliffe and Evan Rachel Wood (who plays Madonna) are backing Yankovic on Team Oscar. “I’d like to just once again plug that Al should win an Oscar for the song,” Radcliffe told Entertainment Weekly last month.