Angela Bassett says it was a ‘supreme disappointment’ losing the 2023 Oscar for ‘Black Panther 2’ to Jamie Lee Curtis

• Angela Bassett spoke to Oprah Winfrey about losing the best supporting actress award in the 2023 Oscars.
• Bassett, who starred in “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever,” said she was “disappointed.”
• She lost to Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

Angela Bassett reflected on losing the 2023 Oscar for best supporting actress, saying she was “gobsmacked.”

Bassett spoke about the moment during an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “OWN Spotlight” this week. Last year, the 65-year-old snagged the nomination for her role as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever.”

Although Bassett won the Critics Choice and Golden Globe awards for her portrayal that year, the best supporting actress award ultimately went to Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Deirdre Beaubeirdre in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

“I just knew your name was going to be called,” Winfrey told Bassett. “And then, when they didn’t, I was beside myself. “

Winfrey added that videos and photos of Bassett’s face following the loss went viral online as some people thought the shock was noticeable. Some critics dubbed her a “sore loser.”

Angela Bassett’s reaction to Jamie Lee Curtis’ name being called…you can tell how much that Oscar would have meant to her. she is, was, and always will be incredible. I better see her on that stage SOON pic.twitter.com/oHDfuDUksG

— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 13, 2023

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Bassett laughed before saying, “I was gobsmacked.”

“I thought I handled it very well. That was my intention, to handle it very well. It was, of course, a supreme disappointment, and disappointment is human,” Bassett said. “So I thought, yes, I was disappointed, and I handled it like a human being.”

Bassett continued that despite the loss, she tried to accept it with grace “for myself and for my children who were there with me.”

She added: “There are going to be these moments of disappointment that you’re going to experience, but how do you handle yourself in the midst of them? We’re going to smile, we’re going to be gracious, we’re going to be kind, we’re going to party anyway.”

 

If Bassett had won, she would have become the first Marvel film actor to receive such an award.

Bassett scored her first nomination in 1994 for playing Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in the best actress in a leading role category, but lost to Holly Hunt in “The Piano.” She later told Entertainment Weekly that she doesn’t feel like she was “robbed” of the award.

“Of course, in the moment you’re hoping and praying and wishing, but I never walk away thinking, ‘I’ve been robbed,” she told the outlet in March 2023. “That’s too negative of an emotion to carry with me for the rest of my life. I choose to believe there was a reason why it didn’t happen.”