David Byrne bemuses Oscars viewers with ‘out of tune’ musical performance wearing sausage fingers

Former Talking Heads musician David Byrne stunned Academy Awards viewers with a left-field appearance during the 2023 ceremony.

Byrne was performing “This is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once, alongside Stephanie Hsu, one of the film’s stars.

Hsu, who lost out on a Best Supporting Actress award to Jamie Lee Curtis earlier in the night, sung a part originally recorded by Mitski for the film’s soundtrack.

It was Byrne, however, that prompted the most talk among Oscars viewers, with the eccentric artist wearing sausage finger extensions in a nod to one of Everything Everywhere’s plot points.

Fans claimed that the singer was, perhaps deliberately, singing his part out of tune, with one person describing him as an “absolute legend of never singing in key”.

“David Byrne said no I will not sing in any recognisably human notes or on key deal with it,” joked another.

“People are probably gonna rip on David Byrne (who works his ass off and performs CONSTANTLY) for being ‘off key’ but the guy was singing his f***ing LUNGS out and there was SO much passion behind the performance,” someone else wrote. “Give me that EVERY day. And Stephanie Hsu KILLED.”

“David Byrne with hot dog fingers is exactly why I tune in to the #Oscars,” another person wrote.

A sausage-fingered David Byrne performs at the 2023 Oscars (Getty Images)

Elsewhere on the night, the winners of the Short Film (Live Action) award were praised for cutting their speech short to lead the auditorium in a rendition of “Happy Birthday”.

You can keep up to date with the latest Oscar developments in our dedicated liveblog.

At the start of the night, Hugh Grant divided viewers with a “painful” interview conducted on the red carpet.

Ke Huy Quan had an emotional reaction to winning Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once, while Jamie Lee Curtis’s surprise win didn’t seem to please everyone.

For a breakdown of which films and nominees are likely to emerge from Oscar night victorious, click here. Here is a full list of the nominees.