Michael B. Jordan won the Best Actor Award at the 2026 Oscars and it had nothing to do with controversy over Timothée Chalamet's ballet comments.
, respectively. In the room at the Dolby Theatre, when Jordan’s name was announced, the applause was deafening. You could feel the love from the actor’s peers. You could feel the joy from the filmmakers, family, press, and every single person from the front row to the mezzanine to the lobbies where people, who were huddled around screens, erupted in screams, tears, and laughter when Jordan’s name was called.
When it was, he sat there stunned, like he couldn’t believe what was happening. Well, it happened. Michael B. Jordan. And he won for playing two complex Black men in Ryan Coogler’s wild, bombastic, thrilling, original film about vampires, freedom, love, and Black art. It was an Oscars moment for the history books, one that we’ll look back on with wonder and pride, one that will be replaying in montages and memes for decades to come. And it had absolutely nothing to do withEvery year, we do the discourse dance around the nominees for the major acting awards. Every year, there’s the early frontrunners . Closer to Hollywood’s biggest night, Chalamet made comments that pundits swear “lost” him the Oscar. In an interview with Matthew McConoughey during a, posted on February 24, Chalamet said “no one cares” about ballet and opera and that he wouldn’t want to be involved in art forms with less eyeballs than movies.among fans of these classical art forms and sparked responses from major ballet and opera institutions and performers. The conversation has now turned into something I find unsetting. Due to the backlash, they say, Chalamet’s guaranteed Oscar win was negated, and that Jordan basically won by default because no one wanted to vote for the bratty ballet hater. Not only is this narrative downright disrespectful to Jordan and the brilliance of his performances, it’s blatantly untrue. Oscar voting ended mere days after Chalamet’s comments resurfaced online.It’s likely that most of the voters had completed their ballots long before Chalamet’s take on ballet broke the internet. You could argue that the grating press tour did hurt Chalamet’s chances, butalso didn’t make the cultural splash – or have the longevity — that director Josh Safdie and co. had hoped. Plus, the Oscars don’t tend to award men this early in their careers, or for performances like the oneis a singular piece of art that broke box office records, sparked cultural debates, deep-dive social media takes, and ancestral explorations. The fact is that Michael B. Jordan won an Oscar because he deserved it. And the articles focusing on Chalamet in the aftermath of Jordan’s win are frustrating at best and, at worst, an indication of a racist industry that refuses to believe a Black man could have won on merit alone.Michael B. Jordan won the Oscar because he deserved it. And the articles focusing on Chalamet in the aftermath of Jordan’s win are frustrating at best and, at worst, an indication of a racist industry that refuses to believe a Black man could have won on merit alone.In the 48 hours since the Oscars, there have been many dissections of “where Timothée went wrong.” The New York Times headline reads, ““4 Big Reasons Timothée Chalamet Lost That Oscar”.” Each of these pieces make Michael B. Jordan’s win about his white counterpart. They belittle MBJ’s achievement — the highest one in his industry — and pull focus from what should be a celebration, not an interrogation of what went “wrong.” Even implying that there is something “wrong” with Jordan’s win is offensive and insolent. You know the age-old Black saying that we have to work twice as hard for half as much? Well even when you do, like Jordan did playing Smoke and Stack, they’ll try to explain away your excellence. It’s a feeling Black folks in any workplace know all too well., according to this person, “had the momentum.” The industry insider, not famous, said loudly enough for anyone around to hear it, “The BAFTAs was actually the best thing to happen tocast, including Jordan, and then left in the show’s broadcast, was a disheartening and frustrating event that caused trauma and infuriating conversations for days. It also occurred a week before Oscar voting ended.historic wins, is to say it's unfathonable that a Black film could gain this prestigious acknowledgement on its own. Frankly, it's racist. And it negates all of the work the cast and Coogler did all season to campaign, hustle, and make sure the word got out to Academy voters. They were at every red carpet and at every event preaching the gospel of this film. As they should have been. They knew their work was good, and that audienceChalamet campaigned for an Oscar, but the fact that he did isn’t new, and in fact, Jordan campaigned just as hard. To claim that the only reason MBJ won was by default is to not only ignore that he pulled off timeless performances that were the standout of his career and the absolute best of the year, it also overlooks that Jordan simply ran a better campaign. He walked carpets with his mom, celebrated his friendship with longtime collaborator, Ryan Coogler, and towed the perfect line between confidence and humility that Black men are often forced to. He doesn’t get to yell about his ambition like Chalamet does. But he also didn’t have to. He has the resume to back it up. And the work spoke for itself. . And for Jordan, he had to carefully construct the subtle differences between his characters — Smoke’s powerful restraint vs. Stack’s charisma and faux bravado — and master the mannerisms of each. The man evendepending which twin he was playing. That takes an immeasurable amount of skill. And people are still hung up on someone else “losing” than Jordan’s precision and claiming his rightful spot as an Academy Award winner. The truth is that white men like Chalamet get to behave badly and still win. All the time. If the Academy wanted to award Chalamet’s performance, they would have. There are really people who think that if Timothée Chalamet had said thethings and was nicer to opera and ballet, he would have had the Oscar locked. To those people, I ask:, Jordan thanked “the people that came before me” before shouting out Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forrest Whitaker, and Will Smith. The only other Black performers to win Best Actor or Best Actress at the Academy Awards. It was a moment that gave me chills. Every single one of those actors has been the exception in an industry hell bent on erasing Black artists and their contributions. Jordan stands on their shoulders, but he — like ancestors dream for the generation that come after them — has built on their work and created his own with even more freedom. Alongside Coogler, Jordan is laying a freeing foundation for the next cohort. It makes me emotional thinking about the artists this win will inspire, and the budding Black legends who will climb up onto Jordan’s shoulders.“To be amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guy,” Jordan said. “Thank you, everybody in this room, and everybody at home for supporting me over my career. I feel it. I know you guys want me to do well, and I want to do that because you guys bet on me.” As someone who bet on MBJ stock early, I was weeping at this moment . Let’s not forget that Jordan also won the Actor Award over Chalamet earlier this month. When Jordan’s name was called then, Viola Davis opened the envelope and yelled, ““You are shining, Harold Loomis!” from Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, August Wilson’s 1984 play. “That line is constantly playing out in my mind,”, “because what it encapsulates is someone stepping into their purpose. It gives me goose bumps. And that’s how I felt about Michael B Jordan.” Always listen to Viola Davis. Let’s put the racism aside for a second. It’s there and it’s clear. But it’s also unfair to lump in Jordan’s career highlight with Chalamet’s stumbles. I understand that including Chalamet in the headline of this very piece may be feeding into exactly what I’m critiquing, but I also want to make sure as many people as possible read this. And the sad truth is that Chalamet’s name is trending right now alongside Jordan’s. That’s a problem I can’t fix, but I can say with my full chest that Michael B. Jordan earned his Oscar. Period. ” in which I argued that Jordan was long overdue for recognition from The Academy. That was six years ago. Now, he’s finally gotten the accolade he deserves. We know how the Oscars has treated Black talent in the past. This is the same awarding body that gave history-making awards to Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Duward-Arkapaw while also passing overfor Best Picture for a movie that barely respects its Black women characters. We know that we cannot uphold white-led institutions as the barometer of validation for Black art. But the industry is still set up in such a way that the Oscar winner title matters. Jordan knows this. He’s been working towards this. Let’s not do him a disservice by eclipsing his moment with a silly controversy that’s not even real. Michael B. Jordan stepped into his purpose Sunday night. Nobody lost that Oscar. It wasn’t anybody else’s to give away. MBJ won.Academy Award Winner Michael B. Jordan. It sounds right. It is right. Jordan won his first Oscar on Sunday for Best Actor for his work in Sinners, where heThe 2026 BAFTAs gave us much to celebrate. Rich, exciting, complex Black filmmaking was given its due, with multiple awards going to Black cinematic artistSean “Diddy” Combs could walk out of jail as early as today after being found guilty on two of the five charges he faced in his federal case — skirtiWe lost a giant this week with Ananda Lewis. Lewis, known for her role as a host on Total Request Live, The Ananda Lewis Show and BET’s Teen Summit, hadDoechii used her big moment during the 2025 BET Awards to speak truth to power. While holding her award in one hand, she didn’t just take the stage; sheThe Tony Awards Nominating Committee announced this year’s Tony Award nominations on Thursday morning and we’re looking at the list wondering where forAfter a three-week trial where A$AP Rocky faced up to 24 years in prison, tears sprang from his eyes when a Los Angeles jury delivered their verdict of notContent Warning: This article contains graphic details of sexual assault. UPDATE, February 17, 2024: The lawsuit filed against Jay-Z over the allegeWalmart reunited two ’90s fan favorites, Larenz Tate and Nia Long, for a holiday commercial that brought all the feels and a wave of nostalgia. The pNavigating pregnancy as a woman in entertainment is not always a peaceful time of impending joy. The moment is often overshadowed by criticism from those wAccording to Drake, “cease and desist is for h**s.” However, the Canadian rapper seemed not to heed his own advice. Kendrick and Drake’sTrigger Warning: This article contains details of alleged sexual assault and other serious crimes. Sean “Diddy” Combs, once a celebrated music
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