James Ransone‘s widow Jamie McPhee is calling out the Television Academy for excluding the late actor during the Emmys In Memoriam tribute, which marked the second time this year Ransone was snubbed by a major awards ceremony. The Oscars also excluded the actor from its own In Memoriam segment in March. Ransone broke out on TV as Ziggy Sobotka on “The Wire” Season 2 before having a film career in movies such as “Sinister,” “It: Chapter 2” and “Tangerine.” He returned to HBO for a role in the miniseries “Generation Kill.”
“My husband James Ransone was not acknowledged in memoriam at tonight’s Emmys,” McPhee wrote on her Instagram story after the Emmys (via Entertainment Weekly). “He was also not at the Oscars earlier this year. PJ was impossible, lovable, intolerable and incredible — depends on who you ask. But without question — he was a great actor. But good news is PJ wouldn’t care. He’d actually think it’s funny.”
McPhee added in a follow-up post: “I didn’t watch the Emmys so l only now understand how much of a snub this truly was. I am incredibly disappointed [with the Television Academy]. James Ransone was an incredibly gifted actor and it simply is not right to not acknowledge him and his work.”
A spokesperson for the Television Academy acknowledged in a statement to EW that “there is a limit on how many people can be acknowledged” on the broadcast version of the In Memoriam tribute given it runs “only a few minutes.” Ransone’s name is included in the more extensive In Memoriam video that is exclusively online.
Ransone was far from the only actor who did not make the cut during the on-air Emmys In Memoriam. Also excluded were Chuck Norris and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Nicholas Brendon, which fans thought was a particularly egregious snub considering the Emmys featured a “Buffy” reunion between Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz earlier in the show. “Days of Our Lives” and “Starship Troopers” actor Patrick Muldoon, “The Gong Show” panelist Jaye P. Morgan, “The Ring” actress Daveigh Chase and “30 Rock” performer Grizz Chapman were also omitted.
Norris’ “Walker, Texas Ranger” co-star Judson Mills also called out the Emmys for the snubs, saying it was a “tragic” and “terrible mistake” to leave Norris out of the on-air tribute.
When Ransone was excluded from the Oscars In Memoriam earlier this year, his “Black Phone” and “Sinister” director Scott Derrickson called out the Academy by posting on X: “The Oscars In Memoriam ignored him but I cannot. He was my friend. I put him in five films. In early January I buried James ‘PJ’ Ransone after he committed suicide… He was a complex, funny, talented and undeniably reckless person. He was wildly alive and deeply loved. I know he said some infuriating things online, but the last time I saw him, he cried with regret for all of that. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings,’ he said. Please don’t trash him here. He is dearly missed.”
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