Beyoncé and Billie Eilish will perform Sunday evening at the Oscars ceremony, but Van Morrison, notoriously opposed to the obligation to vaccinate against the coronavirus, will not be at the party where he was nevertheless invited, the organizers announced on Tuesday. The three artists are in the running for the Best Song category for this 94th edition of the Oscars, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda and Diane Warren, whose works will also be performed during this ceremony. The queen of pop Beyoncé wrote the ballad “Be Alive” for the film The Williams Method devoted to the rise of tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams, and in which actor Will Smith plays their coach father. According to the specialized magazine Variety, the star will perform his title from the tennis courts of Compton, an underprivileged district of the suburbs of Los Angeles, where the Williams sisters made their debut. Asked by AFP to confirm the information, the organizers did not respond on Tuesday evening. Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas will perform “No Time to Die”, a hit specially composed for the latest James Bond. Van Morrison, who wrote the song “Down to Joy” for Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast, was also invited to perform during the Oscars, like his competitors. But “he won’t be able to attend the Oscars because of his concert dates,” organizers said. The 76-year-old singer is performing in England at the end of March before arriving next month in the United States to continue his tour. Van Morrison has in the past criticized loud and clear – and in music, with three songs protesting the confinement – the health restrictions linked to the pandemic, and said he was opposed to the obligation to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Positions which, for some, risked calling into question his participation in the Oscars evening. The ceremony requires candidates, guests and journalists to be vaccinated, but artists and presenters would be allowed to climb on stage without proof of vaccination, provided they go through a series of rigorous tests. Sebastian Yatra will be present to perform “Dos Oruguitas”, a song taken from the latest Disney animated film Encanto, a title composed by star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Diane Warren’s song “Somehow You Do” was written for the movie Four Good Days and will be performed by Reba McEntire. Diane Warren is an Oscar stalwart, with 13 nominations to her credit, but has never won the prestigious golden statuette.
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