Out Oscar Producer Bruce Cohen Addresses Why Broadcast Didn't Show Kiss Between Bardem and Brolin

During Sunday night's Academy Award ceremony, viewers saw a brief glimpse of Oscar presenters Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin walking out on stage, greeting each other and apparently engaging in a brief dance together. But since the camera quickly cut to Bardem's girlfriend Penelope Cruz, viewers didn't see actually see the two men dance, nor the kiss they shared. Many viewers noticed what seemed to be a quick cutaway as the men started to dance and thought the camera stayed on Cruz for an unusually lengthy amount of time

In fact, that kiss would've gone unremarked on had an AP reporter not snapped a photo of the moment prompting AfterElton.com to wonder why neither the kiss nor the dance was shown during the broadcast. After all, such moments are often what make the Oscars so memorable.

Bruce Cohen

AfterElton.com contacted ABC, the network that broadcast the proceedings, but the network declined to provide a comment on why the kiss was not shown. We then reached out to Bardem and Brolin's representation for a comment, and that in turn led to our receiving the following statement from Bruce Cohen, one of the two producers for this year's show.

Said Cohen:

It [the dance and the kiss] was unscripted, and the plan in the truck was always to cut to Penelope in the audience applauding Josh's and Javier’s introduction, so that is what happened, just as they were starting to dance. Josh and Javier’s moment (I saw them start to dance, but, to be honest, I have no idea if they kissed — that’s the first I’ve heard of that) would have made a great TV moment, but since no one knew it was coming, we cut to the gorgeous Mz. Cruz as planned. By the time we cut back from her close-up, Josh and Javier were walking to the podium.

Cohen, who is gay himself, is best known for his work as a producer on movies including Milk, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, American Beauty and the television show Pushing Daisies.