Angela Bassett admits she was ‘gobsmacked’ over losing Oscar to Jamie Lee Curtis in 2023 and calls it ‘a supreme disappointment’

Angela Bassett reflected on her disappointed reaction after losing an Oscar to Jamie Lee Curtis in 2023.

The 65-year-old actress admitted she was “stunned” by the loss, but she thought she was “coping really well” in a new way. interview with Oprah, despite the fact that her downcast reaction after the ceremony went viral.

Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, while Curtis won for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Winfrey said she was shocked about Angela’s loss, which the actress agreed with. “I just knew your name would be called. And then, when they didn’t, I was beside myself! We were beside ourselves in our house,” Winfrey said.

‘I was amazed!’ Angela agreed. “It was obviously a huge disappointment, and disappointment is human, so… yes, I was disappointed, and I dealt with it like a human being,” she added.

At the time, Angela was slammed after making a sour face and refusing to clap for Jamie after beating her to the Best Supporting Actress gong.

However, during the interview, Oprah said she thought Angela “handled it very well.”

“I thought I handled it really well too,” she said. ‘And that was my intention, I wanted to handle it very well.’

“I didn’t get the whole ‘Angela Bassett face,'” Oprah said. “I thought, wow, you see you were expecting something different, but you were still as kind as a queen would be.”

‘Absolute. For myself and for my children, who were with me, yes,” Bassett replied.

“I know a pastor who says, ‘Technology is different, people are the same.’ There will be moments of disappointment that they will experience.”

‘But how do you handle yourself among them? We’re going to smile, we’re going to be friendly, we’re going to be kind, we’re going to party no matter what.”

The star was branded a ‘sore loser’ and couldn’t put on a smile after the loss – and the moment went viral.

Delighted Curtis screamed as she won the first Oscar of her decades-long career for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Bassett, who was hoping to win Marvel Studios’ first-ever acting Oscar after taking home the Golden Globe, was somber as Curtis took the stage.

But many watching realized that fellow nominees Hong Chau, Kerry Condon and Stephanie Hsu were applauding and asking why Bassett couldn’t grin and bear it.

Fans quickly took to social media to reply to her response with one message: “Bassett is a fantastic actress. Too bad she didn’t continue to perform and applaud tonight when Jamie Lee won.

‘Everyone wants to win. However, most won’t do that. That’s life. And a sore loser never looks good.”

Another joked: “All you’re saying is Angela Bassett Jamie Lee should have won… her response was poor sportsmanship.”

Following her 2023 loss, Bassett was named a career Honorary Award recipient at the 2024 Governor’s Awards.

She was presented with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honor by fellow actress Regina King, 52.

“Throughout her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting,” Academy representatives said in a press statement shared in June.

In the early 1990s, she was nominated for an Oscar for her iconic portrayal of Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Her next Oscar nod didn’t come until she starred in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The nomination made her the first actor to be nominated for a Marvel Studios superhero film.