Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté received last-minute permission to use the music for his fan-favorite short program.
MILAN, Metropolitan City of Milan — It’s time to see what all the “Minions” fuss is about.
After Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté said a copyright issue would prevent him from performing his “Minions” short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, he has received last-minute permission from Universal Studios to use the music for this one occasion.
That means Sabaté, who is making his debut at the Winter Olympics, will perform the program on Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Games.
“We will see Minions at the Olympics!” said a post on the skater’s Instagram. “… Tomas will have his Olympic moment with this fan favorite program.”
Sabaté is not considered a medal contender, but he has won over crowds with his Minions program, where he dresses in a yellow T-shirt and blue overalls to invoke those cheeky characters.
How to watch the ‘Minions’ figure skating program
The men’s individual competition starts on Tuesday, Feb. 10, with the short program.
The competition starts at 12:15 p.m. ET and will be aired live on USA Network and Peacock. NBC will air the event at 12:45 p.m.
Sabaté is scheduled to be the fourth skater to compete.
Also competing in the men’s individual event are U.S. skaters Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov and Andrew Torgashev.
Figure skaters have long faced music rights issues
He is far from the only one on the ice facing music issues this season. In January, U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu said her free skate to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” is unlikely to be seen at the Winter Olympics.
“I don’t even think I’m going to do [it] at the Olympics,” Liu told Olympics.com last month. “But I really wanted to do it once at least. … I always wanted to do ‘MacArthur Park’ for the individual free skate event.”
Liu debuted the original program in September 2025, but since then, it has undergone several changes amid music rights issues.
“At first I wanted the orchestral version, but … you can’t just use someone’s orchestral version of ‘Bloody Mary’ off YouTube,” Liu said to Olympics.com. “So, no orchestral, no ‘Bloody Mary.’ That’s how it was in my head.”
During the last Winter Olympics, U.S. pairs figure skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were sued by a music duo over a copyright violation. The pair used the recording of “House of the Rising Sun,” owned by Heavy Young Heathens. The two brothers produce music for use in movies, TV shows, video games and commercials.
This article includes previous reporting by Melissa Hernandez De La Cruz.