Bradley Cooper Is Not ‘Moaning’ About ‘A Star Is Born’s’ Less-Than-Stellar Performance This Awards Season

Bradley Cooper recently told Oprah Winfrey that he was embarrassed at first that he did not receive a Best Director nomination for A Star Is Born, even though the film is nominated for Best Picture. Now a tabloid is claiming that Cooper has been “moaning” about the film not performing as well as everyone expected during this year’s award season.

Star claims to have an alleged “insider” who can attest to these claims, and they say that the actor is “despondent” about the Best Director snub. They also said that Cooper does not believe that he will win the Best Actor Academy Award that he’s nominated for and that he’s resentful about “the awards his movie missed out on.”

But celebrity news fact-checker Gossip Cop reports that the story is less than factual. They claim to have spoken to a person in Cooper’s camp who said that the tabloid’s description of Cooper’s attitude this award’s season is untrue.

As Gossip Cop also points out, despite Cooper’s admission about his earlier embarrassment, he also told Oprah that he understands that there’s more to the nomination than a valuation of the film’s creative merit. He added that he is now cognizant that the Academy Awards should not determine how he views his performance as a director. He also expressed admiration for the members of the A Star Is Born cast who were nominated for Oscars, like Lady Gaga and Sam Elliott.

The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

There’s been a prevailing sentiment that A Star Is Born did not get the recognition that it deserved by the Academy. Recently, Sean Penn expressed his displeasure at its perceived lack of nominations in an op-ed published in Deadline, which some have called bizarre.

“It has been so long since we have been able to equate a success or a love story with high art or artists that we may well have forgotten how. And now, with A Star Is Born‘s eight nominations for Academy Awards, the problem is likely to be exposed,” Penn wrote. “This isn’t Bradley Cooper’s opportunity, it’s theirs to appreciate the depth and value of this film before its legacy outlasts their chance to participate in it.”

It doesn’t look like Cooper has commented about Penn’s op-ed, but he has said that he is concerned about another aspect of Oscar night. He and Lady Gaga are slated to perform “Shallow” from the movie, which is nominated for Best Original Song.

“I’m sure I’ll be terrified,” he said of the performance in an interview with E! News.

Bradley Cooper gets candid about his Oscars Best Director snub: "The first thing I felt was embarrassment, actually. Think about it. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t do my part.” https://t.co/nspH8YyN67 pic.twitter.com/IFWyBSNwYQ

— IndieWire (@IndieWire) February 10, 2019