14 Celebrities Who Hate Trophies and Award Ceremonies More Than We Do
Marlon Brando’s heart was in the right place, but yikes.
Paul Newman
He’d been nominated six times for Oscars before he finally won in 1987 for The Color of Money. He didn’t bother showing up to accept it, oddly comparing it to hooking up with a (presumably) 100-year-old: “It’s like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents, and you say, ‘I’m terribly sorry. I’m tired.’”
Alice Brady
Brady won Best ing Actress for her work in 1937’s In Old Chicago, but a broken ankle prevented her from attending the ceremony. Some freaking dude accepted the award in her stead, and then disappeared off the face of the Earth. His identity is still unknown to this day, and her plaque has never been recovered.
George C. Scott
Scott became the first person to turn down the Academy in 1971, when he was nominated (and won) for his role in Patton. He called the Oscars “a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons,” and said he “disagreed, on principle, with a competition that pitted actors against each other.”
Nick Cave
The Australian musician said the competitive nature of the MTV Music Awards might destroy the very foundations of his creative spirit. He rejected his Best Male Artist nomination in 1996, saying that he wasn’t “comfortable with the competitive nature of these awards ceremonies. My muse is not a horse, and I am in no horse race, and if indeed she was, still, I would not harness her to this tumbrel.”
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith
The Smiths boycotted the 2016 Oscars because every single acting nominee was white. Six years before drawing his open palm to Chris Rock’s temple, Will wanted to draw attention to “so many different people from so many different places adding their ideas to this beautiful American gumbo.”
Spike Lee
Lee boycotted the same year, and put it a bit more eloquently: “How is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the actor category are white? Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all.”
Dolly Parton
Parton tried to turn down her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination in 2022, believing she was too country and not quite rock and roll enough. She’s also twice rejected a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump. Take a hint, big dawg.
Katharine Hepburn
She won four Oscars, but never accepted one at the ceremony, explaining that “My prize is my work.” The first time she attended, she was there to present an award.
David Bowie
Bowie told the Queen to shove it — twice. In 2000, she wanted to name him Member of the Order of the British Empire, and in 2003, she sweetened the deal with a knighthood. He explained, “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”
John Lennon
Lennon accepted his Member of the Order of the British Empire medal, but later returned it due to imperialism (and also disrespect to a song he wrote with Yoko Ono). He wrote a letter to the Queen “in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our of America in Vietnam, and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.”
Richard Burton
Burton was feeling particularly pouty on his fifth Oscar nomination and, predicting he would lose once again, booked a vacation to Paris. He was right about losing, but his darling wife, Elizabeth Taylor, skipped the show in solidarity, missing her own Best Actress win.
Terrence Malick
When the producers of The Thin Red Line broke their NDAs to describe what a nightmare he was to work with, Malick decided to boycott the 1999 Oscars so he wouldn’t have to see them. He kept up his streak, even skipping the 2012 ceremony where The Tree of Life was up for an award.
Bruce Davis
Davis was the Academy’s Executive Director in 2011, when Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop was nominated. He described the inherent issue with nominating an international man of mystery: “The fun but disquieting scenario is that if the film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy,’ who the hell do we give it to?”
Sacheen Littlefeather (Presumably)
Marlon Brando knew he had the award in the bag for The Godfather, so he sent Native American actress and civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to deliver a speech declining the award on his behalf. She delivered Brando’s message about unfair treatment of Native Americans — and endured boos and racist jeers from the most powerful people in her industry. Her career took a major hit, and it took the Academy 49 years to issue an apology.
