Will Ferrell Jokingly Tells Academy “Suck It” After Snubbing ‘Will & Harper’​on February 5, 2025 at 11:57 pm

Although Will & Harper won plenty of hearts, it failed to secure an Oscar nomination.

Following the success of his and fellow SNL alum Harper Steele‘s Netflix documentary, Will Ferrell jokingly called out The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for snubbing their film.

“We didn’t get it,” noted Ferrell on The Late Show, before host Stephen Colbert sympathized, “F— the Academy!”

Ferrell added, “Especially the doc branch. You don’t want to hang out with the doc branch. What a bunch of losers. I hope there’s some of them here tonight: If you’re a member of the doc branch, suck it.”

After Will & Harper was shortlisted by the Oscars in December, it did not make the nominee list last month. The titles up for Documentary Feature Film include Black Box Diaries, No Other Land, Porcelain War, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and Sugarcane. The 97th Academy Awards air live on Sunday, March 2 at 4pm PT on ABC.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum, Will & Harper follows Ferrell as he finds out former SNL writer Steele, his close friend of 30 years, is coming out as a transgender woman. The two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition and America.

After meeting on SNL and co-writing Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), Steele announced her transition to Ferrell and loved ones in 2022.

Following its Sundance premiere last January, Netflix scooped up Will & Harper in an eight-figure deal.