The 2026 Academy Awards featured moments of high drama, both on and off stage. The Oscar race was the closest in recent memory — a reflection of a truly great year at the movies. Director Ryan Coogler’s Sinners set a record for the most nominations ever with 16. Ultimately, the Warner Bros. production took home four. Coogler won for Best Original Screenplay, which earned him a standing ovation from the crowd at the Dolby Theatre, but ultimately lost Best Director and Best Picture to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Autumn Durald Arkapaw prevailed over an extremely competitive field to become the first woman and the first Black person to win Best Cinematography. Micheal B. Jordan delivered a rousing speech with his much-deserved Best Actor win, then followed in Paul Giamatti’s footsteps by treating his team to a late-night snack at the Hollywood In-N-Out Burger. Sinners‘ Memphis connection paid off when Ludwig Göransson won for Best Original Score, much of which was recorded here and featured a who’s who of local talent.
“I Lied To You” was one of two Best Original Song nominees chosen for live performance at the ceremony. While ultimately it couldn’t overcome the juggernaut of “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters for the trophy, the performance was the biggest highlight of the show. In the film, Miles Caton as Sammie, a preacher’s son turned blues singer, discovers his own powers when his performance on the opening night of Smoke and Stack’s juke joint magically summons Black musicians from the past and future, while he’s literally tearing the roof off the sucker.
Astonishingly, the Academy Awards producers elected to recreate the moment live on stage. Caton and songwriter Raphael Saadiq started the song, and were joined by the great Buddy Guy, who plays Sonny in the future in the film; Brittany Howard, Shaboozey, and Memphis musicians Eric Gales, Bobby Rush, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Dancers of all styles and time periods flooded the stage, including — in a pointed moment after Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet had denigrated ballet — prima ballerina Misty Copeland. At one point, the choreography connected juking with the sacred dances of the San people of Central Africa.
It was a performance of uncommon depth for an Academy Award broadcast. And if you were trying to watch it on ABC 24 in Memphis, you missed it. A strong squall line, which had been predicted for several days, was making its way through the Mid South just as the Academy Awards broadcast was awarding Amy Madigan Best Supporting Actress for her spectacularly creepy role in Weapons. When the National Weather Service issued its first tornado warning of the evening, ABC 24 meteorologists Trevor Birchett and Kit Thomas broke in to cover the progress of the storms. Birchett was pelted with what he called some of the most hostile comments he had ever seen from viewers, and repeatedly apologized for what he claimed was an FCC mandated interruption. While the storm cleared in time for the acting, directing, and Best Picture categories, the Sinners musical number, which has since become the viral sensation of the ceremony, was pre-empted.
So for all of those Memphians who missed it, here’s the cast of Sinners’ performance of “I Lied To You” in all its glory, courtesy of the Academy’s own YouTube channel.