Ben Affleck Reveals the Oscars Snub that Was a 'Massive Embarrassment'
Ben Affleck is looking back on an unfortunate time that his talents were overlooked at the Oscars.
During a Monday, Jan. 5 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the 53-year-old Good Will Hunting star congratulated host Jimmy Kimmel, who won Best Talk Show at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards over the weekend.
Jimmy replied by pointing out that Ben had taken home awards from the show over the years, prompting the actor to opine that he “benefited from sympathy” at the ceremony one time. According to him, his victory came after a “massive embarrassment” when he was snubbed at the Oscars.
Keep reading to find out more…
Ben was referring to the 2013 Critics Choice Awards, when he took home Best Director and Best Picture for his film Argo. The win came the day that he was not nominated for Best Director at the 2013 Oscars.
“It’s the horrible thing of everyone’s telling you all the time, ‘You’re going to get nominated. You’re going to get nominated for director.’ This movie Argo that I did and everybody kept telling us that it would get nominated,” he recalled.
When his name wasn’t included on the list of nominees, Ben said, “All of a sudden it’s a massive embarrassment. I woke up and people [told him], ‘You didn’t get nominated.’ ”
Despite being snubbed in the Best Director category, Argo did win Best Picture at the Oscars.
Jimmy told Ben that he was “underselling” what he described as “maybe the worst award show situation ever.”
“You starred in it, and you directed it, and you were not nominated in either category for a film. Like it’s as if the movie directed itself,” he said, prompting Ben to agree, “That’s sort of what it felt like.”
The The Rip actor added that it was harder to attend the Critics Choice Awards right after being overlooked at the Oscars.
“I remember getting there and there was a like a red carpet line. It seemed like there were 500 people dying to talk to me,” he said. “Every single one of them was, ‘Hi. So the snub.’ Like what do you say to that? ‘It’s a bummer’ [laughs]?
What made it more complicated to Ben was that he was not the one predicting his nomination.
“I wasn’t the one going out there and being like, ‘I’m going to get it. I’m going to get nominated.’ And so it was more kind of like having to be put through the ritual of then answering for why you didn’t get nominated,” he explained. “I didn’t say I was going to get and so it was sort of… I mean it was a little bit embarrassing.”
Have you seen the trailer for Ben‘s new movie, which sees him reunite with a close friend and frequent collaborator?