Robbie Williams reacts to ‘Forbidden Road’ being disqualified from Oscars

Robbie Williams has shared his thoughts on ‘Forbidden Road’ being disqualified from the Oscars 2025‘s shortlist for Best Original Song – see what he had to say below.

• READ MORE: ‘Better Man’ review: Robbie Williams flick might be the strangest music biopic ever

In mid-December, the Oscars revealed its shortlist for Best Original Song for the upcoming 2025 ceremony on March 3. Originally on the list was Williams’ ‘Forbidden Road’ from his new biopic Better Man. However, the decision was shortly overturned, and the song was disqualified for including “material from an existing song that was not written” for the film.

Due to the category’s eligibility rules, tracks shortlisted must only contain words and music that are “original and written specifically for the motion picture.” Instead, the song includes excerpts from ‘I Got a Name’ by Jim Croce, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel.

While on the red carpet at the Golden Globes yesterday (January 6), Williams was asked about his thoughts on the disqualification by Deadline. He replied: “Listen, the rules is the rules and you have to go by them. It would have been a nice, but also as an introvert, it’s another party I don’t have to go to. I went through it, I’m on the other side. It’s all good.”

Check out his full response below.

Robbie Williams on being a #GoldenGlobes nominee for ‘Better Man,’ plus his thoughts on the Oscar disqualification for song “Forbidden Road” pic.twitter.com/skwiIF8wdu

— Deadline (@DEADLINE) January 6, 2025

Elsewhere in the shortlist is Elton John’s and Brandi Carlile‘s ‘Never Too Late’, listed for Elton John: Never Too Late, while Kneecap’s ‘Sick In The Head’ is listed for their self-titled biopic. Pharrell Williams’ ‘Piece By Piece’ off the Lego-film of the same name, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ ‘Compress / Repress’ from Challengers and Selena Gomez‘s ‘Mi Camino’ from Emilia Pérez among many others.

Williams’ semi-autobiographical film Better Man arrived in cinemas over Christmas. Directed and co-written by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), it sees the singer depicted as a CGI monkey and tells the story of his life and career, from the early days of childhood to his first taste of success with boyband Take That.

Speaking to NME about the film, Williams reflected on seeing his life story depicted on film: “Tears. And triggering. And grief. And healing. And ego. And: ‘Look at what’s happened to me!’. It just depends on which version of me turns up for the screening on that particular day – and how much sleep I’ve had.

“At the minute, I just wanna take all of this in. I wanna drink every moment that I can, because I’m now in a place where I can derive joy from life. I couldn’t derive any joy from life for such a long time. And I feel as though I’m getting lucky again and I’m getting another bite of the apple.”

In a three-star review of Better Man, Jordan Bassett wrote for NME: “Better Man begins like a John Lewis ad and swerves into an R-rated hodgepodge that somehow does too much while also barely skimming the surface of Robbie Williams’ career. This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess. Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.”

In other Robbie Williams news, the singer recently revealed to NME that he is working on a new album, which will include collaborations with Glenn Hughes and Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi.

Speculation about a new Robbie Williams album has been going on for some time now, with the artist telling fans back in September that a new record was on the way. When the new album arrives, it’ll mark his 13th as a solo artist and his first full-length album since 2019’s ‘The Christmas Present’.