UPDATE: After outcry from current nominees, former winners and many other members of the entertainment industry, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reveresed its plan to air awards for best cinematography, best live action short, best makeup and hairstyling and best film editing during commercial breaks instead of during the live broadcast. In a statement the Academy said, "The Academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards - Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling. All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format."
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After last year's Oscars ran close to four hours, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) made it clear that this year's host-less broadcast is supposed to adhere strictly to a three-hour time limit. In an attempt to ensure that the show keeps moving along, AMPAS decided to present four awards during commercial breaks, showing acceptance speeches later in the broadcast. The four categories are: best cinematography, best live action short, best makeup and hairstyling and best film editing.
That choice has provoked some outrage from not only the people who work in those areas of film, but nominees and winners from categories considered more high profile.
Oscar winner Russell Crowe tweeted that he though the choice was "such a fundamentally stupid decision, I'm not even going to be bothered trying to be a smart arse about it."
He was joined by best director favorite Alfonso Cuaron who tweeted, "in the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing."
AMPAS president John Bailey, himself an award winning cinematographer, emphasized in a letter to Academy members that there would still be ways to watch the four awards presentations live on Oscar.com and the Academy's social channels in the first digital live stream of the show. But that doesn't seem to be satisfying those who feel removal from the TV broadcast is a major slight.
