Samuel L. Jackson Is Tired Of Your 'It's An Honor To Be Nominated' Nonsense

The Academy Awards! Glitz! Glamour! Seat fillers! Awkward jokes! There was a slap that one time! John Wayne had to be restrained from attacking Sacheen Littlefeather! Billy Crystal got rolled out in a Hannibal Lecter mask! Adelle Dazeem! There is much to remember about the Oscars, the award given out for excellence in movies (and that one time when fans were allowed to vote online). What people often don’t remember is who was nominated, or if they do, it’s because of who the nominated person lost to.

I am certain someone will hop into the comments and tell me they remember most nominations or a handful or whatever. Wonderful! But, at the end of the day, the winners are easier to remember. Some nominations stand out. I often muse that Phillip Seymor Hoffman would have likely one for Doubt had Heath Ledger not tragically passed (Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight is incredible, but Hollywood cared even less about comic book movies then). But people often remember the winners more. At least that’s what Samuel L. Jackson thinks (and I am inclined to agree).

Jackson received an honorary Oscar in 2021. He had been nominated before that but never won. That has clearly stuck in his craw, as Jackson reflected on it in a recent interview with AP Entertainment. “We’ve been in the business long enough to know that when folks go, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t. It’s an honor to win,” Jackson chuckled. “You get nominated and folks go, ‘Yeah I remember that.’ Or most people forget. Generally it’s a contest you didn’t volunteer to be in. I didn’t go in there so I could flex. ‘Let me do my scene, so you can remember who I was.’”

To Jackson’s point, plenty of actors have been nominated for Oscars in their nearly hundred-year existence. Most nominations are forgotten because time never stops (no matter how much iron pyrite I offer to Chronos). As we move on, we forget things. It’s difficult to remember when people almost won something. Hell, it can be hard to remember if they did win, as Jackson points out. “They nominate you and people go, ‘What is that movie you’re nominated for? What’s the name of that thing?’ And after it’s over and people have a hard time remembering who even won.”

There will be numerous reasons to remember Samuel L. Jackson. He’s still going strong, recently appearing in the incredible film The Piano Lesson. He is right on the money as far as nominations are concerned. Is there some bitterness to it? Hell yes. As there should be. You don’t get another Samuel L. Jackson, and the Academy has not been kind enough to the one we have.