Most times for absolutely no good reason.

Bassett has been snubbed twice in her career by the Academy Awards. The first snub came after her electrifying performance as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It. While Holly Hunter (that year's Best Actress winner) gave a touching performance as a mute woman forced to live in New Zealand in The Piano, there was no denying Bassett's incredible star power onscreen. Fast-forward to the 2023 Academy Awards, and Bassett was snubbed again after delivering one of the most moving performances of her career in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The most tragic aspect of this loss was the blatant admittance by anonymous voters who seemed to hold various biases, such as feeling like they're being forced into "wokeness."

Easily one of the worst snubs in awards history, Washington's performance in Malcolm X still holds up as a top-tier masterclass. Some believe the snub came as a result of the voters' belief that the life of Malcolm X was too controversial to reward. And while that may help them sleep better at night, I find that excuse to lean heavily into racial bias. If problematic figures shouldn't be awarded, then Robert De Niro shouldn't have won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. LaMotta was a controversial boxer who got jail time for trafficking underage girls in Miami. But maybe that wasn't too controversial for voters back then.

Pulp Fiction is one of the most legendary films in history. And while I've watched Ed Wood just as many times as Pulp Fiction, I couldn't possibly say that Samuel L. Jackson's performance as Jules Winnfield was in any way inferior to Martin Landau's performance in Ed Wood. Both are incredible actors, but this snub just seems like a poor decision all around.

Sadly, Oyelowo didn't even receive a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the film Selma. The 2015 awards ceremony quickly became notorious for its overall lack of representation, leading to the #OscarsSoWhite trending topic.

#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair. 😒

Nyong'o also faced being entirely shut out of a nomination at the 2020 Academy Awards for her dual role in the 2019 film Us. Sometimes, it seems as though doing something twice as good is still not enough to receive recognition.

Viola Davis was oddly shut out of a 2023 Academy Awards nomination for her leading role in The Woman King, even though she was nominated at other large award ceremonies like the Golden Globes. In fact, the film as a whole didn't receive a single nomination in any Academy Awards category that year. And while excuses like saying one can't relate to a dramatic film with an all-Black cast sometimes comes up, it's hard for me to believe that someone can also say that they wholeheartedly relate to experiencing life on multiple timelines like in the sci-fi film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The 2024 masterpiece Wicked was more than just a visually stunning film. It was a wonderful depiction of incredible acting, particularly by lead actress Cynthia Erivo. Luckily, we saw her work recognized with an Academy Award nomination. However, her loss to Mikey Madison at the 2025 ceremony was like a gut punch. Anora was a uniquely interesting film, yet some early predictions even had Demi Moore as a frontrunner to potentially win Best Actress. Even more tragic, it seems some people just assumed that Erivo would be nominated again in 2026 and simply win it later. As we now know, Erivo has been completely shut out of even being nominated for Wicked: For Good for the 2026 Oscar ceremony.

Williams delivered one of the most moving performances of his career in Lovecraft Country. And while he was nominated at the 2021 Emmy Awards ceremony among several other talented actors for the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, many argued that Williams delivered a much stronger performance than winner Tobias Menzies. In fact, Menzies himself dedicated the award to Williams online.

Very humbled to win @TheEmmys last night, huge thanks to @TVAcademy & congrats to all my brilliant fellow nominees. But want to dedicate this to Michael K Williams, his performance as Omar in The Wire is one of the great screen performances, he will be deeply missed. RIP🙏

As a big comedy fan who watched all of the shows nominated last year, I was convinced Janelle James would win the 2025 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her standout role as Ava Coleman in Abbott Elementary. Naturally, I was disappointed that she didn't win. The loss was more hurtful when the ceremony ended, and I realized that only one Black actor won an award that night (Tramell Tillman for Severance). Last year's ceremony did make some progress in the diversity of its nominations. But it delivered terribly on rewarding many of those nominees.

This is one of the most bizarre disappointments to come from the Academy Awards. After Boseman's passing in 2020, the Academy decided to move the announcement of the Best Actor category to the very end of the show. Many saw this move as a subtle way to honor him since he was nominated, and interpreted this as a sign that Boseman may win. Not to mention, Boseman gave us an undeniably beautiful portrayal of the fictional character Levee Green in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. In a stunning moment, Anthony Hopkins was crowned the winner. Hopkins was not present to accept the award, so Joaquin Phoenix accepted it on his behalf, and the show ended immediately after. What was already a deeply painful moment in light of Boseman's passing turned into confusion and anger.

Every single indication felt like they moved around the categories so that Chadwick Boseman would win best actor at the very end of the show. And then Anthony Hopkins wins, doesn’t give a speech, and they roll credits. This is MAXIMUM chaotic energy