‘Baffling Beyond Belief’: Mira Sorvino Slams Oscars for Leaving Dad Paul Sorvino Out of In Memoriam

Mira Sorvino expressed her disappointment with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Twitter after her father Paul Sorvino was excluded from Sunday’s In Memoriam segment during the Oscars telecast.

“It is baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out,” she wrote on Monday. “The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”

The actress updated a previous Instagram post made ahead of the awards ceremony, where she said she would be thinking about her father, who died at 83 of natural causes last July, during Sunday’s telecast.

“Incredibly hurt and shocked that my father’s lifelong, irreplaceable, enormous contribution to the world of cinema was overlooked by whomever made that list,” she added. “We his adoring family, and you, his adoring public, know just how unique and incredible he was. We hope @theacademy does something to put this right.”

Sorvino’s wife Dee Dee also called for the Academy to apologize for the exclusion of Sorvino from the show’s memorial.

“Paul Sorvino was one of the greatest actors in cinematic history in Hollywood. It is unconscionable that he would be left out of the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars,” Dee Dee said in a statement Monday. “It’s a three-hour show, they can’t give a couple more minutes to get it right? Paul Sorvino gave decades to this industry and was loved by all.”

Several other notable names such as Anne Heche, Leslie Jordan, and Charlbi Dean, the star of Best Picture nominee Triangle of Sadness, were excluded from the broadcast’s In Memoriam. Tributes to them were instead made available online through a QR code that was shown onscreen.

“Paul was not the only deserving soul left out, and a QR Code is not acceptable. The Academy needs to issue an apology, admit the mistake and do better,” Dee Dee added in her statement. “Paul Sorvino deserves better, the audience deserves better. Is the Academy so jaded they forget people who are loved, who have given their hearts to this industry?”

Amid the backlash, the Academy issued a statement saying that it had received “hundreds of requests” to include folks in the segment.

“An executive committee representing every branch considers the list and makes selections for the telecast based on limited available time,” the statement read. “All the submissions are included on A.frame and will remain on the site throughout the year.”