YouTube has removed dozens of clips from last Sunday's Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the request after bootleg videos of the opening speeches and a comedy song featuring Will Ferrell and Beyonce began appearing on the popular video sharing site.
The Academy could have made the request to force people to view the videos on its Oscar.com website, run as a partnership between ABC and the Academy. The site hosts a highlight reel along with backstage videos. Those videos have embedded advertisements.
Videos clips of special events, funny commercials and even television shows often make their way to YouTube within a few days of airing. Some of the more popular shows, like the Sci-Fi channel's Battlestar Galactica, will usually have clips uploaded within hours of the show's airing.
The YouTube videos have been replaced with text saying "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences."
