Oscars 2017 Gets Its Own Benghazi Controversy As '13 Hours' Nominee Disqualified

In case you forgot, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi” was nominated for an Oscar in Best Sound Mixing. And it seems that controversy involving Benghazi is touching the big show.

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In a surprise announcement, the Academy announced this afternoon that ’13 Hours’ nominee Greg P. Russell has been officially disqualified, upon revelations that he phoned up others in the Sound Branch to essentially help get him nominated. That’s a violation of Academy rules, and it means that Russell won’t be putting an Oscar on his shelf in the event ’13 Hours’ wins; however, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth, who also worked on the movie, are all still eligible to take home a trophy.

Suddenly, the category we usually skip so we can go to the bathroom during the Oscars just got slightly more interesting. Check out the Sound Mixing nominees and the full statement from the Academy below:

Arrival
Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye

Hacksaw Ridge
Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace

La La Land
Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi
Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth