Denzel Washington Admits He Quit His Academy Voting Membership After Losing Best Actor Oscar in 2000

Legendary actor Denzel Washington opened up recently about how losing the Best Actor Oscar in 2000 left him feeling bitter, so much so that he stopped voting for the Academy Awards altogether.

Washington lost to Kevin Spacey, who won for his role in “American Beauty.” The loss came after Washington’s critically acclaimed performance as Rubin Carter in “The Hurricane.” Despite winning a Golden Globe for the role, the Oscar snub left Washington with a memory that still lingers.

“At the Oscars, they called Kevin Spacey’s name for ‘American Beauty.’ I have a memory of turning around and looking at him, and nobody was standing but the people around him. And everyone else was looking at me…Maybe I felt like everybody was looking at me,” Washington told Esquire. “I’m sure I went home and drank that night. I had to.”

Washington decided to disengage entirely from the Oscars, leaving voting duties to his wife, Pauletta.

“I went through a time then when [my wife] Pauletta would watch all the Oscar movies—I told her, ‘I don’t care about that.’ Hey, they don’t care about me? I don’t care,” he revealed. “You vote. You watch them. I ain’t watching that. I gave up. I got bitter. My pity party.”

Washington won his first Oscar in 1990 for “Glory” in the Best Supporting Actor category. He also won Best Actor for “Training Day” in 2002. After Sidney Poitier, he became only the second African-American performer to win the category.