K-Pop Demon Hunters fans go wild as HUNTR/X makes history with powerful live Oscars performance
K-POP Demon Hunters fans shared their reactions to watching HUNTR/X’s history-making Oscars performance and win.
The trio of voices behind the band from the popular Netflix film – Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami – took the stage at the 98th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, moving audiences worldwide with tears of joy.
They performed their iconic track, Golden, celebrating the folklore and cultural inspiration brought from the 2025 animated film.
Shortly after hitting the stage, K-Pop Demon Hunters, which became Netflix’s most-watched film ever, won the award for Best Original Song for Golden, after dominating awards season.
HUNTR/X, who nabbed two awards – Best Song Written for Visual Media for the famed track and Best Original Song – at the Golden Globes in January, incorporated instrumentals and dance into their performance at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles.
“Let’s go K-POP Demon Hunters!” one fan wrote on X.
“I love me some K-pop demon hunters! Those girls were singing down in that movie lol,” said another.
“K-Pop Demon Hunters made HISTORY,” reacted a third.
“The only thing I care about at the Oscars is K Pop Demon Hunters. If it were up to me, I’d give them all the possible awards,” added a fourth.
However, many were disappointed upon seeing that their acceptance speech was abruptly cut short, as were many others throughout the night, despite them pleading for more time.
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“Absolutely disrespectful of the #oscars for cutting off kpop demon hunters in their acceptance speech. They were given less time than every other winner and the Oscar’s owes them an apology,” one fan raged.
“I don’t like how they cut off the Kpop Demon Hunters Cast. That was nasty #Oscars,” someone else complained.
“Congrats to Michael B Jordan, but why did he get 3x the amount of time for his speech than the KPop Demon Hunters crew?” said another, referencing Sinners star Michael B. Jordan’s Best Actor win afterwards.
According to The Independent, HUNTR/X is the first all-Asian musical act to take the Oscars stage, following Blackpink K-pop band member Lisa, who was the first K-pop artist to perform at the show last year.
In August 2025, Netflix revealed that K-Pop Demon Hunters was the platform’s most popular movie of all time, overtaking the previous record-holder, Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot.
“KPop Demon Hunters has gone up, up, up, and it’s their Golden moment,” the streaming service said in a statement.
Biggest Oscar Nominees of 2026 Academy Awards
Everyone in Hollywood hopes to snag a nod on the industry’s biggest night but only few get that honor. Here are the nominees and winners from the major categories of the 2026 Academy Awards:
Best Picture
- Bugonia
- F1
- Frankenstein
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another *WINNER*
- The Secret Agent
- Sentimental Value
- Sinners
- Train Dreams
Best Director
- Chloé Zhao — Hamnet
- Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
- Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another *WINNER*
- Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value
- Ryan Coogler — Sinners
Best Actor (Leading Role)
- Timothée Chalamet — Marty Supreme
- Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
- Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
- Michael B. Jordan — Sinners *WINNER*
- Wagner Moura — The Secret Agent
Best Actress (Leading Role)
- Jessie Buckley — Hamnet *WINNER*
- Rose Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
- Emma Stone — Bugonia
- Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue
Best Supporting Actor
- Benicio Del Toro — One Battle After Another
- Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
- Delroy Lindo — Sinners
- Sean Penn — One Battle After Another *WINNER*
- Stellan Skarsgård — Sentimental Value
Best Supporting Actress
- Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
- Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
- Amy Madigan — Weapons *WINNER*
- Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
Best Original Screenplay
- Marty Supreme — Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein
- Blue Moon — Richard Linklater & Glen Powell
- Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
- Sinners — Ryan Coogler *WINNER*
- It Was Just an Accident — Jafar Panahi
Best Adapted Screenplay
- One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson *WINNER*
- Bugonia — Yorgos Lanthimos & Will Tracy
- Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro
- Hamnet — Chloé Zhao
- Train Dreams — Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Best Animated Feature
- Arco
- KPop Demon Hunters *WINNER*
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
- Zootopia 2
- Elio
Best International Feature Film
- The Secret Agent — Brazil
- Sentimental Value — Norway *WINNER*
- It Was Just an Accident — Iran
- Sirāt — Spain
- The Voice of Hind Rajab — Tunisia
Best Documentary Feature
- The Alabama Solution
- Come See Me in the Good Light
- Cutting Through Rocks
- Mr. Nobody Against Putin *WINNER*
- The Perfect Neighbor
“The animated musical officially became Netflix’s most popular film of all time on the Most Popular English Films list with 236 million total views.“
In response to the film’s massive success, Netflix released a sing-along “party at home” version, K-Pop Hunters Sing-Along, that’s currently streaming on the app.
The movie was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and helmed by Maggie Kang, a Canadian film director born in Seoul, South Korea.
Maggie described the film as a “love letter to K-pop,” also known as “Korean pop music.”
On March 12, Netflix announced that the beloved animation will be getting a sequel, with directors Maggie and Chris Appelhans returning behind the scenes.
A release date has yet to be revealed, but fans can expect it may be a while, given the first film went into production in 2021 and wasn’t released until 2025.
“I feel immense pride as a Korean filmmaker that the audience wants more from this Korean story and our Korean characters,” Maggie said in a statement about the sequel.
“There’s so much more to this world we have built, and I’m excited to show you. This is only the beginning.”