Samuel L. Jackson Goes Viral For His Reaction After Losing At The Tony Awards

By Liz Kocan @lizburrito
Published June 12, 2023, 9:33 a.m. ET

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Samuel L. Jackson

Brandon Uranowitz won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Performance By An Actor in a featured Role in a Play for his work in Leopoldstadt, but it was Samuel L. Jackson‘s performance when the winner was announced that grabbed everyone’s attention.

Jackson was nominated last night (June 11) in the same category, alongside Arian Moayed, Jordan Coope and David Zayas. He was being recognized for his work in the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson, which was directed by his wife, LaTanya Richardson.

But when the Uranowitz was announced as the winner, audiences noticed that Jackson remained stoic and his facial expression didn’t change, prompting fans to speculate about what he was thinking in the moment.

This isn’t the first time that Jackson has gone viral for losing at an awards show. At the 1995 Oscars ceremony, where he was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in Pulp Fiction, he appeared to mouth the word “Shit!” when he lost the Academy Award to Martin Landau for his role in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood.

You can’t fault the man for looking disappointed for losing out after performing such iconic roles.

This was Jackson’s first Tony nomination, while Uranowitz has been nominated three other times and won for the very first time last night.

Jackson later appeared with Richardson to present the award for Best Play later in the show. The Tonys were unscripted on account of the WGA writer’s strike, so when he appeared onstage with his wife after his loss, he introduced himself by riffing that he was “Samuel L. ‘it’s an honor to be nominated’ Jackson.'”