Figure skater Tomas‑Llorenc Guarino Sabate was all ready to let out a joyful “Papaya! Papaya!” at the Olympics. Set to music from the Despicable Me movies, the Spaniard’s “The Minions” short program was a strong contender to become a viral Olympic moment. However, a shock copyright block just days before the Games nearly derailed everything. But when fans voiced their outrage, Universal Pictures took notice.

“Huge THANK YOU to everyone who reposted, shared, and supported 💙 Because of you, Universal Studios reconsidered and officially granted the rights for this one special occasion,” shared the six‑time Spanish national champion on Instagram.

“There are still a couple things to be tied up with the other 2 musics of the program but we are so close to accomplishing it! AND IT’S ALL THANKS TO YOU!! ❤️💯 I’m so happy to see that the minions hitting Olympic ice is becoming real again!! I’ll keep you posted!” he continued.

The program contains four different music cuts: “Universal Fanfare” from Minions, “Vicious Funk” by Heitor Pereira, “Freedom” by Pharrell Williams, and “Papaya (Minions Remix)” by The Funny Minions.

The main copyright issue stems from the Papaya (Vaya Papayas) track by Juan Alcaraz, which features the Minions’ iconic vocals.

The music, characters, and most of the franchise are owned by Illumination, under the $10 billion film production giant, Universal Pictures. Using copyrighted music in Olympic competition requires official clearance from both the music owners and the International Skating Union.

Though he was able to skate to the music without incident in other competitions, dressed in a yellow shirt and blue overalls to match the Minions, the Olympics have stricter rules, partly because NBC has exclusive TV rights and the Olympics are broadcast worldwide.

And while he submitted his music months in advance through the ISU’s ClicknClear system, he only found out about the clearance problems on Friday. With an increase in contemporary music that often requires clearance, music licensing has become an ordeal in figure skating due to the lack of a universal clearance platform.

“This season I competed with my Minions short program to bring joy and a playful style to the ice while still meeting every required element,” he said. “Incredibly disappointing. Nevertheless, I will face this challenge head-on and do everything I can to make the best of the situation,” he shared on Instagram.

And that’s when the fans took over. On X, one user wrote, “Let the Minion skate!” Another asked, “Are these people not full of joy & whimsy?” And soon after, Guarino Sabate’s situation gained further traction as various news outlets began covering the problem.

The support worked. Universal Studios reconsidered and granted the rights for his Minions program. And finally, we will see Tomas‑Llorenc Guarino Sabate perform a routine full of whimsy and chaos at the highest stage of the sport. Meanwhile, across the pond, another top skater also faced her own music challenges.

Music rights made Alysa Liu rethink her Lady Gaga program

Prior to the 2026 Winter Olympics, Alysa Liu, the reigning World Champion and one of the United States’ most successful figure skaters, had planned to skate to a Lady Gaga medley for the Olympic season. After reworking the first version of it all season, Liu re-debuted the program at the US National Championships, earning the silver medal.

However, behind the scenes, there were some complications in music preferences earlier in her preparation. Initially, she and her team had begun to choreograph the program over an orchestral cover of a Lady Gaga song.

That song was never licensed, and her coaches later rejected it, as that would have been in breach of copyright had they used it in competition.

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“Initially my idea was to have, like, an orchestral version, but, like, they’re only YouTube versions,” Liu said. “We were actually choreographing to the orchestral version. Competition comes around, [and her team said], No, we can’t risk it.”

Unlike Tomas‑Llorenc Guarino Sabate’s Minions routine, this wasn’t a last-minute block. Instead, her team decided early that using an unofficial version, one not cleared through the proper channels, was too risky under strict copyright laws. So they abandoned that plan.

So while she skated to it at Nationals, the program is unlikely to see Olympic ice. Instead, Liu will continue with her Donna Summer program that earned her the World title last March and the Grand Prix final win in December.

Even at the top of the sport, navigating music rights can be tricky, and sometimes skaters have to rethink their routines well before the spotlight shines.