" Let ’s allow the Academy do them , with all grace and love . And let ’s do us , otherwise . ”
There are more reasons than you might think to avoid the Oscars. For some, it’s a question of diversity (think: the 2015#OscarsSoWhitehashtag); for others, it reads as meaningless industry posturing. And for a sleepy few, it seems, theAcademy Awardsare an unworthy distraction from a good nap. Here are 19 celebs who boycotted, skipped, or slept through the event, and why:
1.Anthony Hopkinsdidn’t attend the 2021Oscars to accept his award for best actor, or travel to any of the designated hubs near his home in Wales. The Oscarsdid not allow Zoom calls that year.
2.Michael Cainedidn’t accept his 1987Hannah and Her SistersBest Supporting Actor award for scheduling reasons (very Hollywood).
3.Will Smithdecided to boycottthe 2016 ceremony due to the Oscars' lack of diversity.
4.Jada Pinkett Smithalso boycotted the 2016 Oscars, for the same reason.
5.Eminemwas allegedly asleepwhen he won Best Original Song forLose Yourselfin 2003, ashe says he thoughthe’d never win.
6.Katharine Hepburn won four Oscars, and attended the ceremonyfor zero of them.
7.Terrence Malick hasn’t ever attended the Oscars, partly because of a Vanity Fair interview.
8.Kendrick Lamarwas absentfrom the 2019 Oscars, where his and SZA’sBlack PanthersongAll The Starswas nominated for Best Original Song.
9.Paul Newman waited so long to win an Oscar,he was honestly over the whole thingby the time he got one.
10.Marlon Brando had more or less figured he was going to win for his role inThe Godfatherwhen he asked Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeatherto go in his place. He asked her to decline the award for him.
11.Alice Bradydidn’t show upto accept her Best Supporting Actress award in the ’30s due to a broken ankle, so someone else accepted it for her. Except, it turned out that “someone else” was a randomer —and a thief.
12.Richard Burtonknew he wouldn’t winin 1966 after four previous nominations and no awards, so his wife Elizabeth Taylor stayed in Paris with him that year out of protest. She won Best Actress that year.
13.Spike Leeannounced he would beboycotting the 2016 Oscars for its complete and utter lack of diversityvia Instagram.
14.George C. Scott told the Academy in advance that he wouldn’t accept his Oscar forPattonif he won,allegedly calling the whole thinga “two-hour meat parade.”
15.Singer Anhonididn’t attend the 2016 Oscarseven though she was nominated for Best Song because, unlike other musical acts up for the award that year,she wasn’t invited to performat the ceremony.
16.Screenwriter Dudley Nicholsbecame the first ever person to decline an Oscarin the ’30s when he boycotted the event due to a writer’s strike.
17.The Academycould not reachdirector Jean-Luc Godard via “telephone, by fax, by emails to various friends and associates,” or even through “Fed-Ex” to tell him he’d been given an honourary Oscar.
18.Banksy was nominated forExit Through The Gift Shop, but didn’t goas the Academy didn’t allow them to wear a mask or otherwise conceal their identity.
19.Think you’re a hater? Well, I bet you’ve never said “I really detest all the mutual congratulation baloney and the invidious comparisons which they evoke,” likeactor John Gielguddid when speaking of the Oscars.
