On Feb. 2, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won Album of the Year at the Grammys. While the album was deserving, many critics and people online thought the Grammys gave the award to make up for several previous snubs Beyoncé had been dealt in the past. Notably, her 2016 album Lemonade was widely expected to be her first Album of the Year win but fell short to Adele’s 25. Major awards shows have a history of giving these accolades to established artists who repeatedly fall short of the top prize. With the Oscars coming up on March 2, let’s take a look at this history of the entertainment industry apologizing for itself.
These type of awards, call them career-apology or CA awards, are something I’ve noticed over the past few years. They’re given out to both past snubs and to award an artist’s whole career, only if they have never won before. What’s important to note is that even if an artist truly is the best in their category that year, their win can still be a CA award, as they were never going to lose.
With the rise of social media, people are able to be a lot more vocal about their thoughts on these inter-entertainment politics, and I’ve picked up a few perceptions on what people think about who’s winning. Beyoncé was one example, but there are many more. It’s not just the Grammys that give out CA awards, though; all award shows do them to some extent, and some are a lot worse than others.
When it comes to these career-apologies, no award show is more notorious than the Oscars. Just two years ago, Jamie Lee Curtis won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once in a year when many fans and critics regarded her as the worst in her category.
Interestingly, it was not only her first Oscar win in her 45-year career but also her first nomination. With her level of impact on the movie industry, her recognition was long overdue. The problem, however, is that her win came at the expense of her fellow nominees, which many people on X, formerly known as Twitter, expressed disappointment over.
Leonardo Dicaprio is a similar example. Some see him as one of the best modern actors, with famed performances in the likes of Titanic and The Great Gatsby; he was nominated for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor four times before he eventually won in 2016 for The Revenant. While there was a positive reaction to Dicaprio finally winning, many people across all platforms have expressed that it was not his best work.
It was the first time he was nominated after losing Best Actor in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street to Matthew McConaughey’s performance in Dallas Buyers Club. Both of the actors’ performances have the recognition of both audiences and critics, but someone had to lose, and that person was DiCaprio. Ultimately, as no one, critic or otherwise, seems to hold The Revenant as their favorite Dicaprio performance, his win appeared like an apology for this loss.
Another instance of a CA award comes from The Wolf of Wall Street’s director, Martin Scorsese. Seen by many as one of the most influential directors of all time, with decade-defining movies such as Taxi Driver or Goodfellas, Scorsese received his directing Oscar for The Departed (2006)–40 years into his career. His losing streak, five nominations over two decades for the Best Directing Oscar, was so egregious that even popular TV shows like Ted Lasso were making fun of his “curse.” His win, like DiCaprio’s, came across as both an apology for his losses and a testament to his career. At this point, he had made some of the most commended movies of all time with nothing to show for it except mentions in his colleague’s acceptance speeches.
Unlike the Oscars and Grammys, the Emmys are a lot stricter with how they give out awards. They seem to be perfectly content with letting an otherwise acclaimed show, actor or behind-the-scenes star go unawarded. Notably, Better Call Saul (2015-2022) was nominated for 53 Emmys and won zero despite heaps of praise from both critics and audiences. The Emmys tend to stick to what they know.
While Better Call Saul lost 53 Emmys, Succession dominated, winning 19 awards, including 8 in the same category. Even when Game of Thrones released its much-maligned eighth season, it still received the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, following the many awards it had won previously. So rather than correcting previous snubs for a show, the Emmys tend to reward series they already champion.
Instead of focusing on the shows themselves, the Emmys have a history of being more apologetic to the actors. Mad Men’s Jon Hamm only won for the show’s final season, despite seven previous nominations and praise from both critics and audiences. Another CA award was Jeff Daniels’ win for The Newsroom over Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. Daniels’ win resembled more of a recognition of his career than an actual win for being the best in his category, as he had never won any award throughout his entire career. Overall though, based on the way they handle actors over actual programs, the way that the Emmys distribute their awards is a lot less tactical than other shows.
While there are many more examples, it is even easier to point out who will receive a CA award in the future. Just this Oscars cycle alone, many were annoyed that neither Denis Villeneuve nor Luca Guadagnino received a single directing nomination for their movies Dune: Part Two or Challengers, respectively. In a few more years (and movies), these snubs might be made up for with an apology award. Outside of this year’s nominees, another director likely to get one of these career-apology awards is Quentin Tarantino, one of the most famous directors of our time. Tarantino has never won the Best Directing Oscar, though he has won Best Original Screenplay twice. After announcing that his next film will be his last, it is unlikely that the Academy will let him retire without the proper laurels. Besides the Oscars, Travis Scott, currently one of the world’s biggest rap artists, has never won a Grammy. I’ve seen increased pushback online claiming that this offense should be rectified, prime ground for a CA award.
Every year, the stock that people put into these award shows falls. From campaigning for wins to pieces made with the sole purpose of winning the most awards possible, the cracks have begun to show. The career-apology awards further sink the reputations of these shows, even when they go to a deserving artist. It would be best if these award shows had a more notable lifetime achievement award instead of giving out trophies in recognition of careers or previous snubs.
Maybe if a vote is close enough for the winner, they have some sort of recognition for whoever came in second. I mean, the best solution would just be to give the award to the best artists in each category regardless of who they are, but that’s certainly not going to happen. In the meantime, it’s unlikely that these awards will go away anytime soon, however, and we can either look forward to or dread seeing many of them in the awards seasons to come, maybe even this Sunday.
