Oscar the Grouch…
Most actors work their whole lives to win an Oscar, but not all celebrities are fans of the biggest night in movie history.
Since the Academy Awards began in 1929, several stars have spoken out against the annual awards ceremony and the glitz and atmosphere that comes with it.
Glenda Jackson, who won Best Actress for 1970’s “Women in Love” and 1973’s “A Touch of Class,” once described the Oscars as “a litany of nonsense” in a 2016 conversation with Entertainment Weekly.
George C. Scott, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in 1970’s Patton, famously called the Oscar ceremony “a two-hour parade of meat, a public spectacle of unnatural economic suspense” and “aggressive, barbaric and inherently corrupt.”
With the Academy Awards ceremony just around the corner, here are some of the most famous celebrities who have won Oscars over the years.
matt damon
Despite winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting in 1998, Matt Damon has revealed that he doesn’t enjoy the campaigning that comes with awards season.
“What I don’t like is the idea of this campaign,” Damon explained on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast ahead of the 98th Academy Awards.
“It seems completely backwards and strange to me,” he continued. “Maybe it’s a good thing for movies. Putting everything out there allows the culture to think and talk about movies. I hope that happens…”
Damon won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Acting for his roles in 1998’s Good Will Hunting, 2010’s Invictus, and 2016’s The Martian. He was also nominated for Best Picture in 2017 for “Manchester by the Sea,” for which he served as a producer.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen has never been nominated for an Oscar, but he was happy to share his thoughts on the 2022 Academy Awards.
“I don’t understand why movie people care so much when everyone else cares what awards we give ourselves,” the “Studio” star told Insider at the time about the awards show’s declining TV ratings. “To me, people might just not care.”
“I don’t care who wins the car award,” he continued. “No other industry expects everyone to care about what awards they win. Maybe people just don’t care. Maybe they did for a while, but they don’t care anymore. And why should they care?”
scarlett johansson
Hollywood darling Scarlett Johansson canceled the 2025 Oscars several years ago over the fact that Avengers: Endgame was not nominated for Best Picture.
The superhero ensemble drama starring Johansson, Chris Evans, Chadwick Boseman, and Robert Downey Jr. was released in 2019 and was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 92nd Academy Awards the following year.
“Why wasn’t this movie nominated for an Oscar?” she asked during an interview with Vanity Fair.
Johansson added, “It’s an impossible movie, it shouldn’t have worked, but it really worked as a movie.” “And it’s also one of the most successful movies of all time.”
Although Johansson was never nominated for an Oscar for her role as Natasha Romanoff in a Marvel movie, she was nominated for Best Actress for Marriage Story and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.
ethan hawke
“Blue Moon” star Ethan Hawke didn’t hold back when discussing his disdain for Oscar in 2013, but later changed his tune on the subject.
“People are trying to turn everything in this country into a competition,” he complained in an interview with Gotham Magazine before calling the Academy Awards process “ridiculous.”
“Just think about how many forgettable, stupid movies win Oscars, and how many mediocre actors win Oscars over the fireplace,” he continued. “I think it’s really destructive to prioritize chasing these false carrots and money and dubious accolades.”
However, the “Boyhood” star later recanted his statements in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I think the Oscars do a really good job of representing a lot of the great films of the year,” he declared. “However, it is inevitable that many great films and performances go unrecognized and overlooked due to the mass marketing and PR machines that overwhelm them during awards season.”
Hawke, a five-time Oscar nominee, added at the time, “I’m not going to take anything away from the genuine and well-deserved excitement that all nominees should feel.”
oscar isaac
Oscar Isaac couldn’t keep his opinions to himself after the 2018 Academy Awards announced a brand new and “pretty stupid” outstanding achievement in the popular film category.
“I don’t really know. I haven’t read the rules. It seems pretty stupid, but I think it’s probably above my pay grade,” the “Frankenstein” star told USA Today about his new addition at the time.
“I don’t really understand what that means. Who receives this award? What are the criteria? Is it based on box office receipts? I don’t understand.”
Isaac went on to suggest that the Academy Awards are “meaningless.”
“It’s already become a slippery slope as to why people win awards and why they don’t,” he pointed out. “Another category seems a bit pointless, but perhaps as pointless as the others.”
joaquin phoenix
No celebrity has criticized the Oscars more than Joaquin Phoenix, who made a grand entrance while reflecting on the grueling awards campaign he had to participate in for the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
Phoenix, who was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Cash, said in a 2012 interview: “That was one of the most unpleasant times of my life. I never want to go through that again.”
The “Gladiator” star then compared the Oscars to a “carrot” and called the Academy Awards a “bull.”
“I’m just saying I think this is bullish. I think it’s completely, completely bullish. I don’t want to be part of it,” he insisted. “I can’t believe it. It’s a carrot, but this is the worst tasting carrot I’ve ever tasted in my life. I don’t need this carrot.”
“It’s completely subjective,” Phoenix added. “Putting people against each other…it’s the stupidest thing in the whole world.”
Phoenix was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2000 for Gladiator, followed by Best Actor nominations for Walk the Line in 2006 and The Master in 2013. In 2020, he won the coveted Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Joker.
anthony hopkins
Years before he made history as the oldest person to win an Oscar at age 83 for his role in The Father in 2021, Anthony Hopkins threw a shadow at the Academy Awards in 2012 during a chat with HuffPost.
Hopkins said it was “sickening to watch” and “sickening to watch,” before explaining why he “couldn’t stand” awards season.
“You know, I’ve been doing this all my life. I myself got an Oscar for ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ and I had to be nice to people, and I had to be charming, and I had to play with them…Oh, come on!” he told the outlet.
“I think it’s kind of annoying that people go out of their way to go to recommending organizations,” Hopkins added. “It was always against my nature.”
But the Hollywood legend didn’t end there.
“People cringe and kiss famous producers’ butts. It really makes me want to throw up. It makes me sick,” Hopkins said.
“I’ve seen it many times. The last time I saw it was just last year,” he continued. “There’s a great producer and mogul and everyone kisses this guy’s ass and you think, ‘What are they doing? Do they have no self-respect?'” I wanted to say, “No more.” ”
Before winning the Oscar for The Father in 2021, Hopkins won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992 for his role as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
eddie murphy
Eddie Murphy was so disappointed in the Academy Awards that he almost refused to accept the 1988 Oscar for Best Picture because they didn’t “recognize black people in movies.”
Although the “Coming to America” star ultimately changed his mind, he took the stage that night to let his thoughts be heard.
“I’m probably not going to win an Oscar for saying this, but hey, you know what, I gotta say it,” Murphy told the audience. “Actually, I might not have any problems at all, because the way things are going, one happens about every 20 years. So it’s not scheduled for around 2004. So by then, everything will have blown over.”
“That’s why I came here to present the award,” he continued. “I said, ‘But I feel like we need to be recognized as a people. I just want you to know that I’m going to give you this award. Black people don’t sit in the caboose of society, and we’re not going to stand in the background anymore. And I want us to be recognized.'”
Prior to Murphy’s remarks, only Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier and Louis Gossett Jr. had won an Oscar in the award’s 60-year history.
Years later, the “Trading Places” weirdo revealed that he tried to stop Robin Williams from giving an amazing speech calling out the Academy Awards.
“I remember being with Robin Williams backstage,” he told Entertainment Weekly in November 2025. And he went up to me and said, “But why are you going there? ” he says. ”
“I thought, ‘Oh, you don’t think that’s funny?'” That’s it, is it funny? It’s more than controversial,” Murphy explained. “I tried to be funny and say some little things, but be funny at the same time. Give what I said a little bit of an edge.”
