Will Ferrell Playfully Roasts Oscar Voters for Snubbing ‘Will & Harper’: ‘What a Bunch of Losers. If You’re a Member of the Doc Branch, Suck It’

Will Ferrell recently appeared on “The Late Show” and humorously roasted the Oscars for snubbing “Will & Harper” in the best documentary category. The movie, which got picked up by Netflix after an acclaimed premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, centers on a road trip Ferrell took with Harper Steele after she came out as transgender 30 years into their friendship. While “Will & Harper” did make the Oscars shortlist of 15 documentaries, it did not end up as one of the five nominees.

“We didn’t get it,” Ferrell told “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, who kicked things up a notch by proclaiming: “Fuck the Academy!”

“Especially the doc branch,” Ferrell quipped back. “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.”

Ferrell told Variety at Sundance before the “Will & Harper” premiere that Steele came out as transgender in an email she sent to a handful of friends. “All of us were extremely supportive and expressed love,” he said. “But that sort of opened the questions like, how can we help you? What do you need us to do?”

Ferrell said he had “zero knowledge” about the trans community before Harper came out to him.

“I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life,” Ferrell said. “So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world. It’s a chance all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”

Ferrell embarked on an international press tour on behalf of “Will & Harper.” Speaking to The Independent last fall, the comedian shared his opinion on why transphobia exists by saying: “I think we fear what we don’t know.”

“There is hatred out there,” Ferrell told The Independent. “It’s very real and it’s very unsafe for trans people in certain situations. … But I don’t know why trans people are meant to be threatening to me as a cis male. I don’t know why Harper is threatening to me.”

“It’s so strange to me, because Harper is finally… her,” he added. “She’s finally who she was always meant to be. Whether or not you can ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebody’s happy? Why is that threatening to you? If the trans community is a threat to you, I think it stems from not being confident or safe with yourself.”

“Will & Harper” is now available to stream on Netflix.