LaKeith Stanfield ‘confused’ by his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination

Actor played lead role in Judas and the Black Messiah

LaKeith Stanfield has said he is “confused” by his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the film Judas and the Black Messiah.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, he wrote to fans: “I’m confused too but f*** it lmao.”

Stanfield’s confusion is understandable, given that he played the film’s protagonist, FBI informant Bill O’Neal.

Warner Bros had campaigned for Stanfield to be nominated as Best Actor, but he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination along with his supporting co-star Daniel Kaluuya.

Stanfield is still pleased to have been nominated at all. “First time an actor with a face tattoo was nominated lmaooo,” he later posted on social media.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have the ability to choose which acting category an actor should belong in, even if their work has been submitted for a different award.

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Variety’s Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis noted that Stanfield was probably nominated for Best Supporting Actor because “the acting branch might have seen [his] film as an ensemble piece, similar to The Trial of the Chicago 7, and voted for both [Stanfield and Kaluuya] in the category”.

Stanfield recently revealed that portraying O’Neal took a toll on his mental health. There was one scene in particular that prompted the actor to get therapy once filming had concluded.