"KPop Demon Hunters" Makes Oscars History

Netflix's mega-hit "KPop Demon Hunters" has capped off the 2026 awards season with two “Golden” prizes.

The animated feature took home the best animated feature film and best original song awards at the 2026 Oscars on Sunday night.

Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans were among those who took the stage to accept the award for the best animated feature.

Kang began their acceptance in tears. “For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this,” she said. “This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”

The film’s breakthrough hit song, “Golden,” won the Oscar for original song. EJAE, who voices the character of Rumi and was a songwriter on the track, accepted the trophy. EJAE fought through tears before speaking.

“Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone is singing our song and all the Korean lyrics,” EJAE told the audience. “I’m so proud. I realized the song, the award. It’s not about success. It’s about resilience.”

EJAE was the only one to speak for the group, as the show cut off the rest of the group of producers from speaking. Inside the theater, there were boos from the audience over the cutoff.

Backstage, Yuhan, the BlackLabel producer that was cutoff onstage, gave the speech. “I would like to thank our families, and 24 my fellow IDO members and Teddy Park. This is an incredible honor,” he said.

Mark Sonnenblick, a co-writer on the track with EJAE, also gave the speech he wanted to give onstage. His speech went as follows: “[I want to thank] my family, some of whom are here tonight. My husband, Isaac, who is here tonight. But also, just to say, [thank you to] everybody who worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board. It’s a movie where part of the movie is about looking at someone that you’ve been taught to hate and to fear and starting to trust, maybe even love them. That’s part of what the movie is about. It’s not, ‘I’m going up, up, up.’ It’s ‘We’re going up, up, up.’ That’s part of the reason that we’re onstage right now. It was a deep collaboration. The fans, too, who have loved this movie and made it to what it is, and this soundtrack. Everyone else who worked on the soundtrack, everyone else who sang on the soundtrack. Across the board, a movie is like a village, and we’re lucky to be up here right now, but there’s so many people who have made this movie what it is.”

EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna took the stage shortly before the best original song win.

The trio performed a cinematic rendition of “Golden,” which had the crowd singing and bopping their light sticks along with the song.

The song became a breakout hit from the film and crossed over into mainstream music success. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year.

Demon Hunters has become Netflix’s most popular title ever. The project chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a K-pop girl group made up of three members who also just happen to fight monsters from the underworld.

In addition to topping the Netflix charts, its soundtrack spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.

The film has already made a splash during the 2026 award season; it scored two Golden Globes earlier this year, and it made history at the Grammys by scoring the first win for K-pop at the award show.

Kang and Appelhans previously told THR they’d be bringing the entire Demon Hunters team to the ceremony. “We got extra tickets, so we’re only inviting our crew to it; just as a reward and also so that we could all be there to celebrate, no matter what happens,” Kang said. “They all deserve to be there.”

Last week, Netflix closed deals with Kang and Appelhans for a sequel film as part of a new, multi-year writing and directing pact.

The 98th edition of the Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien for the second year in a row, is airing live on ABC and Hulu from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.