Golden Globes Producer Defends Not Televising Best Original Score Award That Went to Sinners

Ludwig Göransson won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for his work on Sinners, but you might not know that from watching the awards show on TV.

The 2026 Golden Globes aired live via CBS on Sunday, Jan. 11 from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and the award for Best Original Score was presented to Göransson by Charli xcx and Joe Keery during a commercial break.

Fellow composer Hans Zimmer spoke out prior to the ceremony against the Golden Globes’ decision not to air the category during the TV broadcast, and one of the show’s producers later defended the choice.

Zimmer, who was nominated for Best Original Song for his work on F1, spoke to Variety on the publication’s 2026 Golden Globes’ pre-show. “I think it’s a shame not to honor those people — my friends — who work so hard to become a voice,” he said.

“As a person who has been making films forever, everybody who works on a film works their utmost, doesn’t get any sleep, there are no weekends. Sometimes my children wonder who I am — I come into the house and they call the police,” continued Zimmer, a 3-time Golden Globes winner.

“I think the work should always be acknowledged,” he added. “This year is a fantastic year for composers — don’t ignore them, you don’t have a movie without them.”

In an interview with Variety conducted after the broadcast, Golden Globes producer Glenn Weiss explained why Best Original Score wasn’t presented during the main show.

According to Weiss, the production team doesn’t have a say in how many awards will be given out, which leads to a “bigger group discussion/decision” about what will fit into the TV broadcast.

“Here’s what we brought to it, in my opinion: I’ve seen on other shows that they literally surprise winners by handing awards on red carpets, or different ways of doing it,” said Weiss. “We were really clear that if this had to happen, it should happen in the room. It should happen in front of their peers and everybody else.”

He noted that Göransson’s “great” speech is available to view online, and the video “presents just like it would present on the show” with a cutaway to Sinners writer/director Ryan Coogler when he was mentioned by the composer.

“It was important to us that what lives online is as respectful as every other award,” said Weiss. “It’s not just a name mentioned or a throwaway. So it was really important to us to do it the right way once the decision was made to go there.”

Variety then pointed out to Weiss that composers apparently found out their category wouldn’t televised two days before the 2026 Golden Globes. “The organization is facilitating communication with the nominees and such, though I’m not exactly sure the thinking behind when and how they were informed,” responded Weiss.