Illustration by Jillian Tamaki

Peter Gabriel won’t be performing his Oscar-nominated song Down to Earth, featured in the animated film Wall-E, at next Sunday’s Academy Awards, reports Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke. The singer is taking issue with the less-than-respectful treatment of his category, Original Song. It seems, in an attempt to keep the televised ceremony to a painful three hours rather than the standard excruciating four, show producers have reduced the song segment to a quick and dirty “medley.” The result: Gabriel and other nominated performers get a little over a minute of stage time to bust a larynx.

Nobody’s monkey, Gabriel wisely declined the opportunity to proclaim his relative inconsequence to an audience of one billion. No word yet on the lucky soul who’ll take his place. For their sake and that of the remaining performers, let’s hope they haven’t outfitted the stage with a trap door.

Speaking of potential trap doors… to promote their latest release, No Line on the Horizon, U2 is setting up shop as David Letterman’s house band. Watch your back, Paul Schaefer. The group kicks off their five-night stint on March 2.

-- Flannery Dean