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In the game of Oscars, there’s only one golden rule that’s remained true in the ceremony’s near century-long history: there can only be one winner.
Okay, that rule was kinda-sorta broken on six occasions on record, but the last time was a decade ago and it was for “Best Sound Editing.” We’re talking the acting categories here, which hasn’t seen a split decision since Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand shared the “Best Actress” trophy in 1969 for separate-yet-memorable roles.
While we can’t predict the future, for now we’ll assume The Academy will continue its one-winner-per-category streak thus far. That’s why it was so rewarding to see veteran scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis take home “Best Supporting Actress” for a striking performance in
Everything Everywhere All At Once, yet simultaneously heartbreaking to watch Angela Bassett be snubbed yet again, this time for her stage-stealing role as Queen Ramonda in
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Each of the nominated women were deserving in this year’s category, including Kerry Condon in
The Banshee Of Inisherin and fellow
Everything Everywhere All At Once star Stephanie Hsu. Many of us out there however felt a cultural-wide let down at the thought of a decades-long “Oscars ousting” of Bassett as one of Hollywood’s most endearing actresses finally coming to an end, being crushed in an instant.
For Bassett herself, well, you could see the hurt written all over her face.
RELATED: Michael B. Jordan And Jonathan Majors Give Angela Bassett A Shoutout At The Oscars
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So again, this isn’t to say that Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t deserve to win — she was showing
out as that insane-in-every-dimension IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre! However, as you might’ve read in our
review of Wakanda Forever, Bassett was on a different level in her reprised role as Queen of Wakanda. The torch she carries for majority of the film in wake of Chadwick Boseman’s unfortunate absence shows a strength in technique that’s only matched by the actual scenes where she has to authentically portray both a grieving mother and ruler of the most advanced Black society in the world. Not many actresses could do both and make it believable, but Bassett, as Ariana DeBose so virally said last month at the NAACP Awards, “did the thing.” Whatever it is, she did that!
Let us know what you think about Angela Bassett’s big Oscars upset — sore loser or rightfully sour? See what others on social media had to say below:
