Veep Actor Peter MacNicol's Emmy Nomination Revoked: 7 Other Times Stars Were Disqualified From Award Consideration

"This decision is in no way a diminishment of Mr. MacNicol's stellar performance on this season of Veep," the TV Academy said

By Corinne Heller Jul 21, 2016 6:56 PMTags
Peter MacNicol, Veep HBO

Peter MacNicol will not have the opportunity to win an Emmy this year after all.

The actor's 2016 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performances as Jeff Kane, uncle of politician Jonah Ryan, on HBO's Veep has been revoked through no fault of his own; Officials recently determined the star, who has won an Emmy before, was ineligible for the nod because he appeared on too many episodes to be considered a guest star. The nominees were announced last week.

"HBO's guest actor entry for Peter MacNicol was accurate at the time of the submission deadline, but he was subsequently included in an additional Veep episode. Unfortunately, that additional appearance places him in 50 percent of the season's episodes and makes him no longer eligible to compete in the guest actor category," the Television Academy said in a statement to E! News Thursday. "This decision is in no way a diminishment of Mr. MacNicol's stellar performance on this season of Veep."

HBO said in a statement, "At the time of the May 2nd entry deadline the late airing episodes of Veep and, therefore, their credits, did not yet exist. The information we received from the production was that Peter MacNicol was eligible as a guest star. We are very sorry that Peter's brilliant performance will not be recognized."

"@VeepHBO #EmmysArts I truly thank HBO & VEEP who submitted me for an Emmy," MacNicol tweeted Thursday. "To every Academy member who voted for me, I was deeply honored."

"I felt wildly honored that @VeepHBO thought my 9 minute contribution to their series was worthy enough to submit me," he added.

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2016 Emmy Nominations: Complete List of Nominees

The Television Academy announced later Thursday Peter Scolari will be nominated in MacNicol's place for his guest role on HBO's Girls. He plays Tad Horvath, father of main star Lena Dunham's character Hannah. MacNicol congratulated him on Twitter.

"Congratulations to Peter Scolari on his Emmy nomination! Well done!" he wrote.

 

Scolari's nod marks Girls' first and only 2016 Emmy nomination. It last won an Emmy in 2012, the year it debuted, for Outstanding Casting. MacNicol has been nominated for an Emmy three times before, for his supporting role on the '80s series Newhart.

MacNicol won his first and only Emmy in 2001, for his role as Jon Cage on Ally McBeal, which had marked his third nomination at the time.  He is also known for roles on shows such as 24 and Grey's Anatomy.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Veep was nominated for 13 Emmys this year, including Outstanding Comedy Series. The show won in this top category last year and also took home four more Emmys, including awards for stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale, both of whom are also nominated for their roles this year.

MacNicol is not the first actor to have an acting award nomination revoked. See who else lost their chance.

 

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1. Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, Henry Winkler, 2000: The TV Academy rescinded the actor's Emmy nomination also due to a technicality; The group determined he was ineligible because his appearance on Battery Park aired after the cutoff date for Emmy eligibility. An earlier date was listed on the official entry form but the show was canceled beforehand and the episode's broadcast was postponed.

William H. Macy was nominated in his place for his guest role on Sports Night. Bruce Willis ended up winning the award for Friends.

These marked Winkler's fifth and sixth Emmy nods. He was also nominated that year for a guest spot on The Practice and lost to fellow series guest star James Whitmore.

Thibault Monnier/PacificCoastNews

2. Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, Jason Sudeikis, 2016: He did not have an Emmy nod revoked, but he was recently disqualified from consideration for one, Variety reported.

Earlier this year, a month before the nominations were announced, the actor was listed on the voting ballots as a choice for a nominee for a guest-starring role on The Last Man on Earth. It marked his first Emmy nod. Sudeikis was later deemed ineligible because he appeared in too many episodes. At that point, it was too late to resubmit him in a supporting actor category so he lost the opportunity to be nominated for his role entirely.

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2016 Emmys: Notable Nominees

Oscar nominees have also gotten their nods revoked.

3. Original Song, "Alone Yet Not Alone": In 2014, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors voted to rescind the nomination for the theme song to the Christian film Alone Yet Not AloneBruce Broughton had provided the music and Dennis Spiegel had provided the lyrics.

The members determined that Broughton had during the nomination-voting period emailed almost one-third of the members of the group's music branch, of which he had served as an executive member, to make them aware that he had submitted his song. The Academy found his campaigning was inappropriate.

"The Academy takes very seriously anything that undermines the integrity of the Oscars voting process. The Board regretfully concluded that Mr. Broughton's actions did precisely that," the Academy said in a statement. "As a former Academy Governor and current member of the Music Branch's executive committee, Mr. Broughton should have been more cautious about acting in a way that made it appear as if he were taking advantage of his position to exert undue influence."

4. Documentary Feature, Young Americans, 1968: The movie, produced by Robert Cohn and Alex Grasshoff, won the Oscar and months later, it was declared ineligible "after it was revealed that the film had played in October of 1967, therefore ineligible for a 1968 Award." The first runner-up, Journey into Self, was then awarded the statuette.

The producers, who have since passed away, never won an Oscar.

 

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5. Foreign Language Film, A Place in the World, 1992: Uruguay submitted this movie to be considered for Foreign Language Film and it received a nomination. But then "information came to light that showed that this film was wholly produced in Argentina, and had insufficient Uruguayan artistic control." The movie, which was directed by Argentine director Adolfo Aristarain, was declared ineligible and the Academy had it removed from the ballot.

6. Short Film, Live Action, Tuba Atlantic, 2012: The Norwegian short, directed by Hallvar Witzø, was nominated for an Oscar and its nomination was revoked months after the ceremony already took place, after the Academy "was made aware that Tuba Atlantic had been shown on Norwegian television in 2010, making the film ineligible for the 84th Awards under the rules governing the category." It did not win the award at the event.

7. Best Music, Original Song, "Pig Foot Pete," 1942: The nomination of the song, whose music was provided by Gene de Paul and whose lyrics were from Don Raye, was "a mystery," the Academy has said.

"Both the nominations list and the program from the Awards dinner list the song as being from Hellzapoppin', a 1942 release for Awards purposes," the group said. "The song does not appear in that film, but did appear in Keep 'Em Flying, a 1941 release from the same production company and studio, and was therefore ineligible for a 1942 nomination."

—Additional reporting by Chris Harnick

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