Won’t You Be My Neighbor? seemed like an Oscar lock. The documentary, about cherished childhood icon Fred Rogers, was directed by previous Academy Award-winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom); it’s also one of the highest-grossing documentaries ever, and although box office success doesn’t always equal quality (see: Best Picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody), Neighbor has a sterling 98 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And yet! Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was not one of the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature for the 91st annual Academy Awards on Tuesday morning. Instead, the honors went to Free Solo (do not watch if you’re afraid of heights), Hale County This Morning, This Evening (an intimate look at the residents of a small Alabama county), Minding the Gap (the most moving skateboard movie of 2018… sorry/not sorry, Mid90s), Of Fathers and Sons (about a radical Islamist family), and RBG (the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie without Felicity Jones). That’s a fine group of nominees (there’s plenty of room on this here Minding the Gap bandwagon — it’s on Hulu!), but the lack of Mister Rogers (and Three Identical Strangers) was a stunning omission.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was one of Barack Obama’s favorite movies of 2018, and in his extremely positive review, our own Mike Ryan called it “an experience of earnestness we don’t see or hear much anymore, to the point that it’s a bit of a jolt to the system.” He also warned that it will make people cry.
Now it’s causing tears for an entirely different reason.
THEY SNUBBED MR. ROGERS
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 22, 2019
The Mr. Rogers doc not getting nominated got a quadruple-WTF from me. That thing was expertly crafted.
Cooper getting snubbed for Director got a double-WTF. https://t.co/2OfGr3Ac7u
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 22, 2019
WHAT! The Mr. Rogers doc, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?,' which was supposed to win the category after sweeping all the precursor awards, just got snubbed. #OscarNoms
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) January 22, 2019
No nomination for that “Mr. Rogers” documentary has got to be the biggest surprise/travesty, right?
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) January 22, 2019
Mr. Rogers getting snubbed is a travesty. Same goes for Eighth Grade.
— Andrew Littlefield (@FSUAndrew) January 22, 2019
like…some of the best picture noms make no sense??? there’s not female directors nominated??? THE MISTER ROGERS DOCUMNETARY WAS SNUBBED????
— kat. (@katisapizza) January 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/tomsilvestro/status/1087734188344791042
Mr. Rogers to The Academy #OscarNominations pic.twitter.com/yZxlSF1Rwz
— Will Mavity (@mavericksmovies) January 22, 2019
It's not very Mister Rogers-like to yell and curse, but HOW THE HELL DID WON'T YOU BE NEIGHBOR? NOT GET A BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINATION?!?!?! #Oscars
— Matthew Webber 🎧 (@thegreatwebber) January 22, 2019
Maybe the Tom Hanks/Mister Rogers movie will have better luck.
Behind the snubs: “Why nominate a documentary about Mr. Rogers when you can wait a year to nominate Tom Hanks as the same dude?” #Oscars
— Kenton Larsen (@kentonlarsen) January 22, 2019
Oh yeah, and Paddington 2 was snubbed, too. The Oscars hate nice things.
