2021: The Weeknd embittered at the Grammy
Obviously annoyed not to obtain any nomination for the Grammy Awards, the musician and singer The Weeknd denounces, a few days before the ceremony, which was held on March 14, an opaque and corrupt competition, of which he does not understand the process of selection. “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys … because of the secret committees”, declared the artist at New York Times. A much more radical position than that of Albert Dupontel: after his refusal to attend the Césars, which awarded his film seven times Goodbye idiots the director wanted to thank “Sincerely the Academy of Caesars for maintaining the ceremony”.
2020: Claro back to Renaudot
In May 2020, the novelist and translator Claro asks the Renaudot Prize jury to withdraw his novel The Native House (Actes Sud) of its selection. The reason he gives for this withdrawal can be read on his blog: “In these times when the question of the mask is on everyone’s lips (failing the mask itself), I have no desire to participate in any masquerade whatsoever. “ In February 2020, the author had yet accepted the prize awarded by the magazine Round : the Grand Prize for Chance is awarded to a work drawn at random from 336 back-to-school novels. “This is a very special price, underlines the winner, the only one that it was possible for me, finally, to receive with joy and pride. “
1978: Woody Allen not there at the gala
When Annie hall finds himself in a position to win the Oscar for best picture, in 1978, Woody Allen displays polite indifference. “I have no consideration for this kind of ceremony, declares the filmmaker. I just don’t think they know what they’re doing. When you see who wins – or who doesn’t – you realize how this whole Oscar thing doesn’t matter. “ On the evening of the ceremony, Woody Allen played the clarinet at a New York jazz club. He returns home after the concert, not knowing that he has just won the statuettes for best film, best original screenplay and best director. And that Diane Keaton, the heroine ofAnnie hall, was crowned best actress.
1970: George C. Scott, enemy of ceremonies
In 1962, George C. Scott already declined an Oscar nomination for his role alongside Paul Newman in The Scammer, by Robert Rossen. In 1970, his polite refusal became more vehement. In a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the actor asks not to be nominated for the Oscar for best actor for his role in Patton, by Franklin J. Schaffner, believing that he does not have to find himself in competition with other actors. “This Oscars ceremony is a meat parade. I don’t want anything to do with it ”, he declares. Scott will however obtain the statuette rewarding the best actor.
1951: Julien Gracq deaf at Goncourt
Published in September 1951, The Shore of Syrtes, by Julien Gracq (José Corti), a novel selected by the jurors of Goncourt, quickly emerges as a favorite. Indifferent to the system of literary prices which he denounced in 1951 in his pamphlet Literature to the stomach, the author writes to “Figaro littéraire” an open letter in which he confirms that he is “As resolutely as possible non-candidate” and announces that he would refuse the prize if ever it was awarded to him. In December, the jury of Goncourt awarded it to him, however, at the end of the first ballot. In accordance with what he had announced, Julien Gracq becomes the first writer to refuse the Goncourt.