Every awards season, there's chatter about which performers' nominations and wins are most well-deserved — and which beloved entertainers didn't get their flowers. When a celebrity's loss or lack of a nomination is especially shocking, their peers often chime in. Sometimes, the performers themselves publicly express their disappointment.
Here are 24 celebs who reacted to major awards snubs:
1. When Barbie director Greta Gerwig and lead actor Margot Robbie didn't get nominated for the 2024 Oscars, costar Ryan Gosling (who got a Best Supporting Actor nom) released a statement, that said, "There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film."
"No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I'm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement," he said. "Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees."
2. Likewise, their fellow Barbie costar America Ferrera (who got a Best Supporting Actress nom) told Variety, "I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated."
She continued, "Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it. Creating this world, and taking something that didn’t have inherent value to most people and making it a global phenomenon. It feels disappointing to not see her on that list...What Margot achieved as an actress is truly unbelievable,” Ferrera says. “One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look. And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honors of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did. She brings so much heart and humor and depth and joy and fun to the character. In my book, she’s a master."
3. Other Barbies and Kens — including Simu Liu, Ana Cruz Kayne, and John Cena — also called out the Academy for snubbing Greta and Margot. Others, such as Ncuti Gatwa and Hari Nef, also re-shared their costars' statements.
Simu tweeted, "Being involved in a small way gave me a window into just how hard Greta and Margot had to fight to get Barbie made, and how flawlessly they executed. Together they started a movement, touched the world and reinvigorated the cinema. They deserve everything. They ARE everything."
On Instagram, Ana said, "Celebrating our 8 juicy nom nom noms. So proud of everyone 🥹 You can snub our leaders but you can’t take our freeeedom!!"
John told People, "I can let my friend Margot and I can certainly let Greta know that awards aren’t the only metric to success and they have made a movie that has done tremendous business and changed a lot of lives in the process. And I think that’s one hell of an achievement."
4. Amidst widespread outrage over Margot and Greta's Oscars snubs, Jameela Jamil pointed out some other well-deserving performers who got snubbed in 2024. On Instagram, she shared a screenshot of a Glamour quote about the Barbie snubs and added, "Ok but [Past Lives lead actor] Greta Lee and [director] Celine Song anyone? [A Thousand and One lead actor] TEYANA TAYLOR ANYONE?"
In the caption, she said, "I get it but also I very much so don't get it. Just a bit confused by the selective noise."
5. At the 2023 Grammys, Beyoncé became the most-awarded artist in the ceremony's history, but for the fourth time, she didn't win the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year (her record Renaissance was nominated). In a pre-Grammys interview, her husband, Jay-Z, told Tidal, "With Bey, I felt like they missed the moment. Not just LEMONADE; [also] when Beck won over her [for Album of the Year at the 2015 show]. I was like, 'Oh, y'all missed it.'"
He also said, "[She deserves Album of the Year because] look what it’s done to the culture. Look how the energy of the world moved. They play her whole album in the club. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. The whole entire joint — like, everything?! Every remix is amazing. Everyone’s inspired. It has inspired the world. Every remix is better than the other one. From anybody, we’re just finding these joints out in the street. Somebody just did a joint over Suga Free the other day — you heard this joint? It’s a West Coast classic. The DJ put Bey’s vocals over this at a party and it went crazy. It’s inspiring creativity. You know how The Black Album had The Grey Album [Danger Mouse’s 2004 mashup project]? And the one with Radiohead? It was called Jaydiohead [Minty Fresh Beats’ 2009 mashup]. When it just inspires creativity, that’s an album. That has to be Album of the Year. It has to be."
6. After Beyoncé's 2023 AOTY loss, Spike Lee told the Guardian, "I’m not the male president of the Bey Hive, but I love and support Beyoncé. Her album is amazing. I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for album of the year and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won. It’s not their fault, but that’s some straight-up bullshit."
He continued, "There’s a history of great Black artists who come up for these awards and don’t win. We all know their work is great, because art speaks for itself. But then it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do Black artists say: ‘Fuck it’ – or seek white validation and chase awards? I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé. We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: it’s some poppycock!"
7. After Halsey's album Manic didn't get any noms for the 2021 Grammys, they called out the nomination process on their Instagram story, writing, "The Grammys are an elusive process. It can be about behind the scenes private performances, knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine — with just enough handshakes and 'bribes' that can be just ambiguous enough to pass as 'not-bribes."
She continued, "If you get that far, it's about committing to exclusive TV performances and making sure you help the Academy make their millions in advertising on the night of the show. While I am THRILLED for my talented friends who were recognized this year, I am hoping for more transparency or reform. But I'm sure this post will blacklist me anyway."
8. After her performance as Ramona in Hustlers didn't earn her a 2020 Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actress, Jennifer Lopez told Allure, "When it came to the Oscars, it was so obviously absent. It was a sting."
She continued, "I was like, ‘Okay, when you’re supposedly in everybody else’s mind supposed to be nominated and you’re not, what does that mean? Is it really real? Are the other ones real and this one isn’t?’ It came to a point where I was like, ‘This is not why I do this. I don’t do this to have 10 Oscars sitting on my mantel or 20 Grammys.’ ...The point is creating and the joy that I get from the things I get to put out in the world that entertain and inspire and empower people. I think my life is about more than awards."
9. As shown in her documentary, Miss Americana, when Taylor Swift learned that her album Reputation wasn't nominated for anything at the 2018 Grammys, she felt that it must not have been good enough.
10. After receiving no BET Award nominations in 2022, Lil Nas X tweeted (and later deleted), "thank you bet awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence! [sic]"
Responding to a troll who asked what he'd "put out — and don't use that gay shit as an excuse," he replied (and also later deleted), "idk maybe 3 of the biggest songs of last year & a critically acclaimed album. i feel like that should’ve helped me a bit. [sic]"
Likewise, when another user told him that his releases weren't hip-hop, the singer pointed out that the BET Awards have a pop category and added, "Doesn’t even have to be me nominated. i just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible. [sic]"
A few days later, he shared a preview of his next single, "Late To Da Party (F*CK BET)." He also tweeted, "this not over no bet award this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the black community, y’all can sit and pretend all u want but imma risk it all for us. [sic]"
11. When Till received zero nominations at the 2023 Academy Awards, director Chinonye Chukwu shared an important message on Instagram, writing, "We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women. And yet."
She continued, "I am forever in gratitude for the greatest lesson of my life — regardless of any challenges or obstacles, I will always have the power to cultivate my own joy, and it is this joy that will continue to be one of my greatest forms of resistance."
12. Leading actor Danielle Deadwyler expressed strong agreement with her Till director's statement. On the Kermode & Mayo's Take podcast, she said, "We're talking about people who, perhaps, chose not to see the film. We're talking about misogynoir — like, it comes in all kinds of ways, whether it's direct or indirect. It impacts who we are."
She continued, "It is in our quotidian life, it is in our industries, it is a rampant thing. Nobody is absolved of not participating in racism and not knowing that there is a possibility of its lingering effect on the spaces and institutions that it created."
13. After not receiving any nominations for his album After Hours at the 2020 Grammys, The Weeknd tweeted, "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency..."
He also tweeted, "Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!"
In response, Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. told BuzzFeed News, "Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community...To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process."
A few months later, the singer told Billboard, "I use a sucker punch as an analogy because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere. I definitely felt...I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?’ We did everything right, I think. I’m not a cocky person. I’m not arrogant. People told me I was going to get nominated. The world told me. Like, ‘This is it; this is your year.’ We were all very confused. If you were like, ‘Do you think the Grammys are racist?’ I think the only real answer is that in the last 61 years of the Grammys, only 10 Black artists have won Album of the Year. I don’t want to make this about me. That’s just a fact. Look, I personally don’t care anymore. I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It’s just that this happened, and I’m down to get in front of the fire, as long as it never happens again."
14. In 2019, Mindy Kaling told Elle that when The Office was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys, she was told that her name would be cut from the list because there were too many producers listed. She said, "They made me, not any of the other producers, fill out a whole form and write an essay about all my contributions as a writer and a producer. I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed, when my actual record stood for itself."
Her name was ultimately included in the list, though the show lost the award.
In a statement to the LA Times, a Television Academy spokesperson said, "No one person was singled out. There was an increasing concern years ago regarding the number of performers and writers seeking producer credits. At the time the Producers Guild worked with the Television Academy to correctly vet producer eligibility. Every performer producer and writer producer was asked to justify their producer credits."
In responses, Mindy tweeted, "There were other Office writer-performer-producers who were NOT cut from the list. Just me," she said. "The most junior person, and woman of color. Easiest to dismiss. Just sayin’."
15. Jenna Fischer, Mindy's The Office costar, told BuzzFeed News' AM to DM that she was "so glad that [Mindy] spoke up and said something."
Jenna continued, "I saw that there was a response from the Academy that said something like because she had multiple roles on the show it flagged her. And I think my response would be, well, so did BJ Novak, Mike Schur, and so did Paul Lieberstein. They were all writer-producer-performers on the show, so I guess I would say, so why single out Mindy and not those gentlemen?"
16. After Wonder Woman failed to get a Best Picture nom at the 2018 Oscars, Gal Gadot told Entertainment Tonight, "I was very moved and touched by the feedback of all the people that were disappointed that Wonder Woman wasn’t nominated, but we certainly never did the movie for that."
She continued, "I think that you can't have it all. We've done this movie and it was received in such an amazing, wonderful way, and we want to stay humble and grateful, and we're going to have another movie, so who knows? Maybe the next one!"
17. When Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems performance didn't earn him a nomination at the 2020 Oscars, he tweeted, "Bad news: Sandman gets no love from the Academy. Good news: Sandman can stop wearing suits."
"Congrats to all my friends who got nominated, especially Mama," he said, referencing Kathy Bates, who played his mother in The Waterboy.
18. Jennifer Aniston, Adam's Murder Mystery costar, used the end of her SAG Awards acceptance speech to briefly address his snub.
19. When neither I May Destroy You or creator/writer/star Michaela Coel received any Golden Globes noms in 2021, many celebs expressed their shock and disappointment. For example, Dylan O'Brien tweeted, "Golden Globes are laughable. Not only is I May Destroy You absolutely fucking brilliant, it should be required viewing. Apparently you can be TOO far ahead of humanity @MichaelaCoel we don’t deserve you."
20. Similarly, Jodie Turner-Smith tweeted, "michaela cole was robbed. #GoldenGlobes. [sic]"
21. Actor Pearl Mackie tweeted, "I’m sorry, but @MichaelaCoel being snubbed IN EVERY CATEGORY at the Golden Globe nominations for 'I May Destroy You' is the wildest thing that has happened in 2021 and 2020 combined."
22. Poorna Jagannathan also tweeted, "@MichaelaCoel and #imaydestroyyou are the best TV has to offer. This erasure undermines the #GoldenGlobes."
23. Kathy Griffin tweeted, "Upside of buzz about Golden Globes snub of I May Destroy You is more people will discover Michaela Coen’s masterpiece. Such a riveting series."
24. And finally, even Selling Sunset star Chrishell Strause tweeted, "Michaela Cole appreciation tweet. How she wasn’t nominated for everything is [mind-blowing]. #IMayDestroyYou."
Among the many other celebs who tweeted about Michaela's snub were Emmy Rossum, director Alma Har'el, director Cathy Yan, comedian Mark Duplass, actor Alex Boniello, Shannon Woodward, Elizabeth Reaser, Aurora Perrineau, Ella Hunt, DB Woodside, and Noma Dumezweni.