Jennifer Lopez Said Not Getting an Oscar Nomination for 'Hustlers' Was a “Letdown”

"I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it," Lopez said.

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  • Jennifer Lopez appeared on Oprah Winfrey's 2020 Vision: Your Life In Focus tour on Saturday.
  • She spoke about not being nominated for an Oscar for her Hustlers role, admitting, "It was a bit of a letdown."
  • J. Lo said she also felt she'd let her team down, saying, "I think they had a lot of hopes on that. They wanted it too." 

As a talented and committed Grudge Holder™, I have nourished many, many years of grievances against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—and in 2020, I added another to the catalogue, when Jennifer Lopez wasn't nominated for an Oscar for her role as Ramona in Hustlers. And while J. Lo isn't a churlish baby like me and no doubt doesn't bear the Academy any ill will, she did acknowledge that she was hurt by the snub, during an appearance on Oprah's 2020 Vision: Your Life In Focus over the weekend.

"I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it,” Lopez said, as People reports. "I got so many good notices—more than ever in my career." She continued, "And I’m reading all the articles and I’m going, 'Oh my God, could this happen?' And then it didn’t and it was like, 'Ouch.' It was a bit of a letdown."

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Even more upsetting: Lopez said she felt she'd disappointed her team and her supporters. "Most of my team has been with me for years," she said. "I think they had a lot of hopes on that. They wanted it too, and I felt like I let everybody down a little bit." When Oprah pointed out that was absolutely not the case, J. Lo replied, "I felt like that for a bit."

Thankfully, Lopez has since realized that she didn't need the Oscar to define her worth. "Oh my God, I don’t need that," she said. "I’m actually here and I am okay and I am enough. I don’t need this award right here to tell me I’m enough. I don’t need it."

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Emily Dixon
Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.