Adam Sandler got an awards-season microphone and used it the way Adam Sandler uses everything. Like a joke that lands harder because he’s smiling while he says it.
On Feb. 5 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sandler accepted the Maltin Modern Master Award and addressed the elephant in the room. He didn’t get an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Netflix’s Jay Kelly. So he offered an explanation that sounded like a dig but played it off as a bit. The nominated guys are just better at “ass-kissing,” as he put it.
He even framed it like a fake prophecy, thanking a “fortune teller” he said he met in 1982, who promised him an Oscar for a movie called Jay Kelly. Then he pivoted to the obvious workaround. Maybe the psychic meant Jay Kelly 2.
The Part People Are Skipping Is That He Wasn’t Actually Bitter
Sandler didn’t go scorched-earth. He congratulated the nominees, then said two things that can both be true. He thinks they’re better actors than him, and he thinks they’re better at playing the Academy’s social game too. Crucially, he framed it as a joke about himself, not a claim about anyone cheating.
In the onstage conversation that followed, he doubled down on the calm version. He said he doesn’t sit around thinking about the snub, and that everyone who did get nominated was “f—ing great.”
That’s the Sandler move. If you joke first, nobody can make you look wounded.
The Actual Best Supporting Actor Lineup He Was Joking About
The 98th Oscars supporting actor nominees are: Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another), Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), Delroy Lindo (Sinners), Sean Penn (One Battle After Another), and Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value).
Sandler wasn’t nominated, and Jay Kelly ended up with zero Oscar nominations overall.
The Funny Part Is That He Did Get Nominated Everywhere Else
This is why the joke worked. It’s not like Sandler’s performance got ignored all season.
He was nominated at the Golden Globes for Jay Kelly. He also landed a Critics’ Choice nomination, even though Jacob Elordi took the win.
So the Oscars miss hits different. Not tragic, just weird enough for a punchline.
What Jay Kelly Is, and Why Netflix Wanted It in the Awards Conversation
Jay Kelly is a Noah Baumbach film that follows a famous movie actor, Jay Kelly (George Clooney), and his devoted manager, Ron (Adam Sandler), on a whirlwind, unexpectedly profound trip through Europe. Netflix has described it as a “heartbreaking comedy.”
It arrived on Netflix on Dec. 5, 2025.
Sandler’s Oscar drought isn’t new. Chris Rock famously took a swing at the Academy for never nominating him, name-checking Uncut Gems in the process.
So yes, this is a “snub” story. It’s also a “Sandler has been doing this exact joke for years” story.
The 98th Academy Awards air on March 15 on ABC and stream live on Hulu, with Conan O’Brien hosting.