With the Academy Awards airing this Sunday, the 2026 Oscar race is reaching its boiling point. This year’s ceremony is shaping up to be an interesting showdown, particularly with Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another battling it out for the night’s top prizes.
But as the big night approaches, the conversation surrounding the awards has taken a noticeable detour from the art of filmmaking itself.
Over the past few weeks, the industry has been flooded with “brutally honest” anonymous voter ballots, aggressive campaign strategies, and off-screen controversies. Most notably, Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) recently faced significant backlash over less-than-complimentary comments he made about ballet and opera.
Amidst the noise, veteran actor J. August Richards took to social media to call out the current state of Hollywood’s award season, expressing his frustration that the industry has lost the plot by focusing on the wrong things.
In an Instagram video and accompanying caption, Richards criticized how brazen industry insiders have become when justifying their award season votes with reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with a nominee’s actual performance.
“It seems like the Oscars and awards show and Hollywood have become 100% about vibes and not about the work,” Richards stated in his video. “I don’t like that. It’s amazing to me how, as an industry, we’ve become very comfortable giving awards based on things other than the quality of the performance.”
Richards pointed out that now, award season often feels more like a popularity contest driven by PR machines rather than a celebration of cinematic excellence. He shared that voters and commentators have become far too comfortable prioritizing a nominee’s campaign trail hustle or their red carpet wardrobe over their on-screen execution.
For example, Richards referenced the recent controversy surrounding Chalamet. While he made it clear he wasn’t taking a stance on the actor’s comments themselves, he argued that off-screen opinions should not dictate the evaluation of an actor’s on-screen talent.
“I’m not bashing or defending this person,” Richards clarified. “But whatever Timothée Chalamet said about the opera and ballet should be irrelevant to you voting for him or not voting for him.”
In his caption, Richards acknowledged that Hollywood politics have always played a role in award shows, writing: “It’s crazy to me how people IN THE BUSINESS have become so brazen about giving reasons why they did or didn’t vote for someone or something that have nothing to do with THE WORK… I know it’s always been that way. I’m just commenting on how open it’s become lately…”
However, he expressed disbelief at just how transparent the “vibes-based” culture has become. He even called out the absurdity of today’s award punditry, sharing that some influencers don’t even bother watching the movies they are critiquing.
“Now there’s even a person on YouTube who’s an Oscar predictor who will boldly tell you he hasn’t seen the films, but he’s predicting who will win based upon vibes,” Richards said. “I don’t like that sh*t.”
The 98th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Photo Credit: Easton Schirra
