YMMV / Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

• Award Snub:
  • Many fans were upset at Anthony Hopkins winning the Best Actor BAFTA for The Father over Boseman. Hopkins himself thought he had so little chance that he didn't attend the ceremony. Though of course Hopkins was just as acclaimed, which heavily downplays this.
  • Gained near-instant infamy for this when Hopkins again defeated Boseman for the Academy Award for Best Actor, which was enforced by the ceremony itself — in an unusual move, the show had set Best Actor as the final award of the evening, after even Best Picture, with the apparent intent to center Boseman's expected win as a tribute to the late performer. Hopkins wasn't able to attend the ceremony, so the show ended almost immediately after the announcement, before viewers could even take in what had just happened. Regardless of who each viewer believes should win, everyone was in universal agreement that the movement of this category was a horrible decision that didn't pay off at all and resulted in a very rushed and awkward end to the night.
  • Viola Davis losing Best Actress to Frances McDormand in Nomadland was also not viewed with much favoritism either since the former had only ever won once in the Supporting category and the latter had already won the particular award two other times as well.
• Fandom Rivalry: An Actor specific example, caused by the Best Actor award being announced after the Best Picture award at the Oscars. This arrangement make it seem as if the Academy was banking on Boseman winning, but the award went to Anthony Hopkins instead for The Father. This left fans of the deceased actor underwhelmed, as they were expecting some kind of tribute to him, which wound up not happening. It's worth noting that the real contention from most fans of both films have gone towards the Oscar ceremony for this failed attempt at pandering to Boseman by putting the Best Actor announcement last, rather than aiming it at the respective actors competing. Boseman's family sent out a statement congratulating Hopkins and saying they didn't believe it was a snub, and Hopkins paid tribute to Boseman in his later-recorded acceptance speech acknowledging Boseman being taken too soon from the world.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Amidst those that don't already know the play, some people are either mainly or only interested in the film because they want to see the late Chadwick Boseman's final onscreen work. His universally acclaimed performance wound up being by far the most popular part of it, with even people who didn't care for the film praising him.
• Narm: The random shot of Ma Rainey in the final scene. She's in a completely different setting to the action which she has nothing to do with, yet she pops up anyway.

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