What came as both a surprise and controversial Oscar nomination earlier this month has now been voted off the ballot.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' board of governors has rescinded the Best Original Song nomination for "Alone Yet Not Alone," with music by Bruce Broughton and lyric by Dennis Spiegel.

Broughton's ties to the Academy were called out by the website Hitfix just hours after his song was nominated on Feb. 16, accusing him of using an unfair advantage in the nomination process and outing him as a former Academy governor and current Music Branch executive committee member. Yahoo Movies spoke with Broughton on nomination day and he assured us he operated well within the parameters of Academy rules.

[Related: The Complete List of 2014 Oscar Nominees]

But the board's decision to rescind the nomination came after learning that Broughton had emailed members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period, the Academy relayed in a statement on Wednesday.

"No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one's position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one’s own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy president.

"I’m devastated," Broughton said in a statement obtained by Yahoo Movies. "I indulged in the simplest grassroots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention. I got taken down by competition that had months of promotion and advertising behind them. I simply asked people to find the song and consider it."

The board determined Broughton's actions went against the organization's promotional rules that indicate all campaign activity must happen in "a fair and ethical manner" and that the board is authorized to "take any corrective actions or assess any penalties that in its discretion it deems necessary to protect the reputation and integrity of the awards process."

The move is an extremely rare one in terms of Oscar history; according to Rope of Silicon, it's only the fifth time a nomination has been rescinded (or a nominee/winner subsequently deemed ineligible).

The title song nomination for "Alone Yet Not Alone" came out of left field as the film had not even been reviewed on the popular critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes; nor is there any box-office data available on it. Oscar pundits were generally shocked by the nomination.

A new nominee in the Original Song category will not be named, the Academy confirmed. The remaining nominees in the category are:

"Happy" from "Despicable Me 2" — Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams

"Let It Go" from "Frozen" — Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

"The Moon Song" from "Her"— Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"— Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

Watch the Oscars live on March 2 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, and stick with Yahoo Movies for Academy Awards coverage all season long.

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