Angela Bassett has been slammed after pulling a sour face and refusing to clap for Jamie Lee Curtis after she beat her to the Best Supporting Actress gong at Sunday’s Oscars.
The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star, 64, has been branded a ‘sore loser’ and was unable to conjure up a smile after the loss – with the moment going viral.
Elated Curtis, 64. screamed at winning the first Oscar of her decades-long career for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Bassett, who was hoping to win Marvel Studios’ first ever acting Oscar after taking home the Golden Globe, was somber as Curtis took to the stage.
However many watching realized that fellow nominees Hong Chau, Kerry Condon and Stephanie Hsu applauded – asking why Bassett couldn’t grin and bear it.
Fans quickly took to social media to address her reaction with one writing: ‘Bassett is a fantastic actress. A shame she didn’t continue performing tonight and applaud when Jamie Lee won.
‘Everyone wants to win. However most won’t. That’s life. And sore loser is never a good look.’
Another quipped: ‘All you saying Angela Bassett should’ve won over Jamie lee… her reaction was poor sportsmanship.’
A third hilariously typed that Ariana DeBose’s panned BAFTAs rap – in which she said: ‘Angela Bassett did the thing’ – had cursed Bassett.
One wrote: ‘She put a curse on Angela Bassett. Since then she lost every awards that she was up to.
Another penned: ‘They really set Angela Bassett up had Ariana presenting the damn award they lost a moment for her to say Angela Bassett did the thing ugh.’
Others came out in defense of Bassett and questioned whether Curtis was a worthy winner, saying: ‘Everybody talking about Angela Bassett reaction saying she’s a sore loser…
‘How about y’all put in hard work and oscar worthy performances for 30+ years just to barely get any recognition and when you do get recognized you get snubbed, her reaction was REAL and RAW.’
Another fan wrote: ‘Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Jamie Lee Curtis but her role in EEAAO was not even the best supporting actress performance in that movie.
‘Angela Bassett stayed seated when she was announced as she should’ve. A queen never stands for an institution that refuses to honor her.’
A third wrote: ‘Jamie’s reaction affirms that Angela was the top contender. Every time a Black actor is on the verge of making history for a remarkable performance, The Academy opts to issue one retroactively to a peer. Bet if she was #thehelp vs the queen, Angela Bassett would’ve won.’
Others wrote: ‘Yeah had to turn off the Oscars after they didn’t give Angela Bassett the award’ while another wrote: ‘But Angela Bassett did the thing. What is happening.’
Everything Everywhere All At Once nearly won everything, everywhere as the film led the pack with seven wins at The Oscars 2023 as it earned top honor Best Picture.
The hit also won individual recognitions for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis while Brendan Fraser completed his incredible career comeback with a Best Actor win.
The American absurdist action comedy-drama film was the biggest winner of the night at the event featuring a star-studded red carpet.
It earned Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing, and Best Original screenplay at the gala event held at Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
At the end of the night Daniel Kwan was joined by his co-director Daniel Scheinert – AKA The Daniels – as they thanked the entire cast and crew: ‘We’ve said enough tonight. Thank you so much to everyone here. You have all inspired me.
‘One of the things that I realized growing up is that one of the best things we can do for each other is shelter each other from the chaos of this crazy world.
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‘Thank you to the storytellers here who did that for me. The world is changing rapidly and I fear our stories aren’t keeping at pace and I sometimes it’s a little scary knowing that movies move at the rate of years and the world on the internet is moving at the rate of miliseconds, but I have great faith in our stories.
‘These stories have changed my life and they have done that for generations. Have a great night, guys, thank Thank you, everyone, have a great night. Thank you for watching!’
The film beat out quite the field including: All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, The Fabelmans, TÁR, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking.
The film is centered around a middle-aged Chinese immigrant named Evelyn Wang, played by Michelle Yeoh, who is swept up into an insane adventure in which she alone can save existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led.
Michelle Yeoh finally had her Oscars moment as she earned Best Actress for the film and accepted the honor with one of the most inspiring speeches of the night.
Ke Huy Quan completed his incredible career comeback while Jamie Lee Curtis got emotional while talking about her legendary actor parents as they earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, for Everything Everywhere All At Once at The Oscars on Sunday.
Things got even more uncomfortable for Yousafzai when presenters brought out the real-life “Cocaine Bear,” someone in a bear suit from Elizabeth Banks’ film, and as it paraded down the aisles, it strangely pestered the activist.
Kimmel had to tell the bear leave to Yousafzai alone.
“Cocaine bear, leave Malala alone!” he said, as she looked uncomfortable in her seat.
This year, seven of the 20 acting nominees were people of color, including Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere All At Once castmates Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Quan.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences will surely celebrate a best-picture field populated with blockbusters; according to data firm Comscore, their collective domestic box office of $1.574 billion is the most ever at the time of nominations.
Last year’s awards had been looking like a comeback edition before ‘the slap’ came to define the ceremony. In the aftermath, the academy banned Will Smith from attending for the next 10 years.
Though he could have still been nominated, Smith’s performance as a runaway slave in Emancipation didn’t catch on with voters.
But larger concerns are swirling around the movie business. Last year saw flashes of triumphant resurrection for theaters, like the success of Top Gun: Maverick, but less stellar results for most dramas.
Partially due to an inconsistent stream of major releases, ticket sales for the year recovered only about 70 percent of pre-pandemic business.
Stocks for streaming services, meanwhile, have plunged as Wall Street looked to streaming services to earn profits, not just add subscribers.