Oscars 2020: Idina Menzel’s ‘Frozen 2’ Performance Called out for a Specific Lack of Diversity

Idina Menzel performed her hit song off of the Frozen 2 soundtrack, “Into the Unknown,” during the first hour of the Oscars. Josh Gad, who plays the part of Olaf in the movie, came out to introduce her and set the stage for a new twist on her performance.

“As many noted, animated movies are loved everywhere,” Gad began. “In fact, Frozen 2… has been dubbed in 45 different languages… these dubbed versions provides kids and adults everywhere their own special connection to the story and its characters, which means there are so many great versions of Elsa.”

Menzel then took the stage in what Gad called a “special global performance” that featured Elsa’s from all over the world. Except, there was one tiny issue. One user questioned on Twitter, “Why are there no black people in this performance with Idina Menzel? Seriously?!”

“Someone explain to me why they couldn’t have someone from a Black Country song in their language with Idina Menzel,” another user mentioned.

Frozen 2 earned $1.4 billion in the box office. It is the sequel to the breakthrough Frozen movie that came out in 2013. That movie went on to the win two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song which was “Let it Go” performed by Menzel.

In an interview with AZ Central, Menzel talked about recording her iconic Disney song. She shared that she never expected it to become the smashing hit it did.

“I mean, I knew it was a great song. And I was excited about my character. They wrote it for the character because they thought it made a much more complicated and not your typical Disney villain. It made her very complex and beautiful,” she said. “So I was excited to sing it and have a song that really allowed me to use my range — vocally, dramatically and all that kind of stuff. But you have no idea what kind of phenomenon is going to become.”