Adam Sandler has found a silver lining in missing out on an Academy Award nomination.
The comedian received Best Actor buzz for his role in 2019 crime thriller Uncut Gems, but he was not on the shortlist for the category on Monday, when the list of Oscar nominees was released, revealing the race was between Leonardo DiCaprio for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Antonio Banderas for Pain and Glory, Adam Driver for Marriage Story, Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, and Jonathan Pryce for The Two Popes.
However, Sandler took to Twitter to prove to his fans that he had found a positive in the snub.
"Bad news: Sandman gets no love from the Academy. Good news: Sandman can stop wearing suits," he wrote, before congratulating Kathy Bates, who played the mother of his character Bobby Boucher in 1998 sports comedy The Waterboy, for her Best Supporting Actress nomination.
"Congrats to all my friends who got nominated, especially Mama," Sandler concluded the tweet, which featured a still of Bates.
The actress, who was nominated for her role in Clint Eastwood's crime drama Richard Jewell, spotted his message and replied, "I love you my Bobby Boucher!!! You was robbed!! But Mama loves you!!! I learned a new urban slang word for you! You da GOAT (Greatest of All Time)!! Not the one we eat at home, Son."
Bates joined many film fans on social media expressing their outrage at the 53-year-old's rejection, including The Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, who tweeted, "Truly baffled that Sandler wasn't nominated and that Uncut Gems wasn't acknowledged at all."
Sandler had previously joked that he would make a deliberately bad film if he got snubbed at the Oscars, and his Just Go with It co-star Brooklyn Decker registered her interest in supporting the project, with her writing on Instagram: "If I'm not in this movie it will be a crime."
The 92nd Academy Awards show will take place in Los Angeles on 9 February.
