Introducing latest award show:The Snubbys!
They should call this Snubs season.
Yeah, I know … the Super Bowl is happening today, but we’re also in the midst of Major Entertainment Awards Season, which began Jan. 7 with the Golden Globes; continued with the delayed Emmy Awards on Jan. 15 and the Grammys last Sunday; and will culminate with the Oscars on March 10.
Thumb through the articles about these awards and you’ll see there were plenty of snubs.
“The Color Purple” and “Wonka” were snubbed for Best Motion Picture Golden Globes; their December releases were named as a possible factor, according to a Billboard.com piece. Jennifer Aniston wasn’t nominated for a Best Actress in a Television Series award. Kelsey Grammer, who’d won twice previously for Best Actor in a Television Series for the original “Frasier” show, was snubbed for a nomination for his “Frasier” redo.
Per the Emmys, the shows “Andor,” “The Last of Us” and “Yellowjackets” were snubbed, according to an Screenrant.com article, “Emmy 2024: 7 Biggest Snubs & Surprises (& Which Ones Were The Right Choice).”
Then came the Oscar nominations. A cbsnews.com article is among multiple pieces pointing out that Margot Robbie was snubbed for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her lead role in the movie “Barbie”; director Greta Gerwig was snubbed too — while Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing Ken in the movie. (Even Gosling expressed disappointment at Robbie’s and Gerwig’s snubs.) Leonardo DeCaprio wasn’t nominated for his “Killers of the Flower Moon” performance. America Ferrera did get a supporting actress nomination for “Barbie” — “(after she’d been shut out of the SAG Awards and Golden Globes,” it was pointed out. And back to “Color Purple,” Danielle Brooks’ nomination for supporting actress was the film’s only nomination; CBS News goes on to mention that Bradley Cooper can’t seem to even buy a Best Director nomination.
And then, last week, rapper Jay-Z took the opportunity to get onto the Grammy disher-outers (The Recording Academy) for consistently overlooking the work of wife Beyonce for its Album of the Year Award … even though she has won the most Grammy awards. And Jay-Z made the complaint … while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Grammys. Whew. You get the drift.
A few years back the slogan was #OscarsSoWhite. But the snub complaints have grown far beyond a lack of racial and cultural diversity among Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences faves. Today’s hashtag slogan could be: #AwardsShowsSoSnubby.
Really, it seems that in recent years, “who got snubbed” threatens to overshadow “who won” at these awards shows. Shoot, it even threatens to overshadow the Red Carpet
fashion commentaries. Which leads me, at least, to scratch my head and wonder: Haven’t worthy candidates been snubbed throughout the history of these awards?
Indeed, some very good work in the entertainment world has been overlooked throughout the years. And yeah, I’ve had my “Whuuuut? So-and-So was robbed!” moments when seeing awards and “best-of” titles denied candidates I felt truly deserved them, whether it was the Oscars or some local competition. Don’t get me started about Arkansas’ own Korto Momolu and her appearances on “Project Runway.”
But in the real world, fair is just a place we take our prime livestock or our best-made pie or pear preserves to be judged (and we might get “robbed” there, too). Everybody can’t get a trophy. Nor can everyone get a trophy nomination.
There are just a whole lotta talented folk in showbiz (including folks whose shows and movies we may choose not to watch, or whose music we may choose not to listen to, for whatever reason). There are too many good candidates to include all of them in a nomination pool. We’d all have to take off work the day after the big awards show if each presenter were to come out and say, “Now, here are the 20/30/40 nominees for Best Actor/Actress/ Picture … ”
And I suspect some of these showbizzers are now getting a kick out of being snubbed for these awards. Any publicity is good publicity, and there are doubtless more than a few of us who have said to ourselves, “Oh, Alex Borstein didn’t get a GG nomination for ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’? Hmm, let me watch the show and see if she really deserved one.”
Prediction: There will, sooner than later, emerge a Snubbed Awards, celebrating the best of the candidates who did not make the major awards-show nominations. These would inevitably lead to #snubbedbytheSnubs complaints, of course.
Whatever. I’m still waiting for the Best Super Bowl Commercials Awards.