The 2026 Academy Awards made headlines for a number of reasons, both good and bad. Among them, one of the controversies that had everyone talking was the In Memoriam segment. The omission of several notable film personalities across the world, including Dharmendra, led to the show’s producers facing massive backlash. Amid the growing flak, broadcast executive Rob Mills, who oversees the telecast, reacted to the criticism, defending the segment.
Oscars producers on the In Memorium section
During an interview with Variety, Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s EVP of unscripted and alternative entertainment, went on to defend the decision to omit some names from the In Memoriam segment during the recent Oscars 2026 broadcast. Rob was questioned about the In Memoriam segment, which attracted criticism for leaving out several notable names.
Responding to this, Rob said that it is the Academy’s call on who ends up on the list during the telecast, but it is hard. He said, “I think it’s the hardest thing they possibly do. It always is hard when they are sort of villainised for this. Yes, there are always people who are left out. Unfortunately, we’re losing more and more people, and especially, we’re losing legendary people every year, so it is probably the hardest needle to thread. I do think what they did last night might have been the best In Memoriam in the history of the Oscars.”
Further giving a peek into what goes behind it all, Rob said, “Robert Redford passed away before, and then when Diane Keaton passed away, and those are two monumental legends, this is in the fall. Now, the advantage we had too with the show was the producers were in place before last year’s show … so you can start planning for that now. When you lose people like that … the In Memoriam really needs to be really, really done; these are legendary names for losing. And then obviously the tragedy with Rob and Michelle Reiner was just awful. When that happened, I think that’s when they started to really think about, ‘Okay, how is this going to take shape? What are we going to do?’… It’s a big task that I think [Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan] met the moment beautifully.”
Controversy around Oscars In Memoriam
The 98th Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles on Sunday night, sparked a controversy after viewers were left disappointed as several late icons, including Dharmendra, were omitted from the extended In Memoriam segment during the live broadcast. During the ceremony, the In Memoriam segment included tributes to the late Hollywood icon Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, among many Hollywood legends who died. The lost icons featured in the segment also included Robert Redford, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton.
During an interview with Subhash K Jha for Bollywood Hungama, Hema Malini reacted to Dharmendra`s omission from the Oscars, saying, “It is a shame, of course. A shame for them to have overlooked an actor who means so much to so many people across many parts of the world. Dharamji was known and recognised everywhere.”
