Angela Bassett recalls the ‘supreme disappointment’ of losing at the 2023 Oscars
Bassett was finally recognised with an honorary Oscar. (Getty)
It’s been a year since perhaps the most shocking snub in Oscars history when Jamie Lee Curtis beat Angela Bassett to become Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards 2023.
Bassett received an honorary award at the Oscars this year, but still remembered the “supreme disappointment” she felt when she didn’t win for her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on OWN Spotlight about her loss, she said: “I thought I handled it well. And that was my intention, to handle it very well.
“It was, of course, a supreme disappointment. And disappointment is human. I was disappointed and I handled it like a human being… [I was gracious] for myself and my children who were there with me,” she admitted.
“There are going to be these moments of disappointment. But how do you handle yourself in the midst of them? So, we’re going to smile, we’re going to be gracious, we’re going to be kind, we’re going to party.”
At the time, viewers expected Bassett to win for her stunning performance as Ramonda in the Marvel movie.
Her husband Courtney B. Vance recently recalled in People how the star has lost out on an Academy Award twice in her career. The actor was nominated for her portrayal of Tina Turney in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, which was critically acclaimed.
However, Holly Hunter took home the award for Best Actress for her performance in The Piano at the 1994 Oscars.
He said: “The honorary Oscar was a wonderful night, but I flashed back to 30 years ago when they didn’t call her name, and then when they didn’t call her name last March.
“This was an opportunity for her to stand up there. A lot of people saw it, but not the billion people that would see it at the Oscars. But it meant everything to her.”
Despite losing to Curtis for her work in the superhero comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, Basett still remembered her time on the Marvel movie fondly, saying to Winfrey that she “manifested” the role.
She said: “It’s not ‘queen’ for me, it’s ‘queen’ for us. We are queens; my mother, my auntie, you, we all are. For so long women have been considered at the low end of the totem – no!”
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