When the nominees for this year’s Oscars were finally announced last month, there were quite a few notable omissions – but none quite so glaring as Denzel Washington.

The two-time Academy Award winner won near-unanimous praise for his performance in Gladiator II last year, making him one of the top picks to secure a Best Supporting Actor prize at the upcoming Oscars.

However, when the shortlist was revealed, Denzel’s name was nowhere to be seen, which caused a huge reaction at the time.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like the man himself is paying it much mind.

“Are you kidding me?” he quipped during a new interview with the New York Times. “Awww. Oh, I’m so upset.”

“I’m happy for all that [film] did, and I’m happy with what I’m doing,” he added.

Denzel has been nominated for an Oscar 10 times in his career, most recently in 2022 for his performance opposite Frances McDormand in Apple’s The Tragedy Of Macbeth.

He earned his first win in 1990 for the war epic Glory, with his second following 12 years later for the crime thriller Training Day. He also has a Tony, a Screen Actors Guild Award and three Golden Globes to his name.

The divisive Netflix musical Emilia Pérez is the leading film going into this year’s Oscars, although lead actor Karla Sofía Gascón has been at the centre of plenty of controversy after a series of years-old offensive social media posts were unearthed.

Wicked and The Brutalist are just behind, while Anora’s Yura Borisov, A Real Pain’s Kieran Culkin, The Apprentice’s Jeremy Strong, A Complete Unknown’s Ed Norton and The Brutalist’s Guy Peace are all in the running for Best Supporting Actor, the category Denzel would have been in had he been nominated.