Jeremy Allen White skips 2025 Emmys for best friend's wedding as The Bear lands 13 nods

Jeremy Allen White had a nomination, a tuxedo waiting, and a very good reason not to show up. The Bear star skipped the 2025 Emmy Awards to attend his best friend’s wedding, according to trade reports, choosing a front-row seat at a life event over a front-row seat at television’s biggest night.

White was in the running again for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his turn as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a role that has already earned him two Emmys. Variety reported the conflict, and E! News said it sought comment from his team but hadn’t heard back at press time. No drama here—just a scheduling clash that made the choice for him.

Why he skipped—and what it says

Hollywood loves a red carpet moment, but people have lives. Weddings, births, family milestones—these collide with awards nights more often than fans realize. The Television Academy doesn’t require nominees to attend, and winners don’t need to be in the room to take the trophy. If White had won, a presenter would have accepted on his behalf and the show would have rolled on.

Still, the optics stand out because White is one of TV’s most-watched performers right now. He’s in rare air: a young actor with back-to-back Emmys and a series that keeps dominating ballots. Skipping an Emmys broadcast while nominated reads less like indifference and more like a line in the sand about priorities—friends over photo ops. And judging by the early chatter online, plenty of fans respected that call.

The Bear didn’t exactly disappear from the ceremony either. The FX breakout pulled 13 nominations this year, staying firmly in the awards conversation after last season’s haul rewrote the record book. In 2024, the show scored 23 nominations, the most ever for a comedy season, pushing past 30 Rock’s 22 from 2009.

• White: nominated again for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
• The Bear: 13 nominations at the 2025 Emmys after a record 23 last year.
• Eban Moss-Bachrach: previously won Supporting Actor in a Comedy for The Bear.
• Liza Colón-Zayas: became the first Latina to win Supporting Actress in a Comedy.

Put simply, the show can carry weight in the room even when its lead is out of town. That’s what happens when a series becomes part of the culture rather than just a ratings line.

The Bear’s awards run and cultural footprint

The Bear’s rise makes sense when you look at what’s on screen. It’s a Chicago kitchen drama that moves at the pace of a dinner rush and hits with the force of a panic attack. The show locks you inside the pressure cooker—sweating the margins, the debts, the staff dynamics—and then asks bigger questions about purpose, grief, and the cost of ambition.

That mix—ultra-specific workplace detail with universal stakes—pulled in both critics and casual viewers. Restaurant folks praised the way the series nails the rituals of service, from the way tickets pile up to the choreography around a tiny line. People outside the industry connected with the family tension and the way stress reshapes a person. The craft is there too: tight scripts, performances with lived-in edges, and episodes that push form, including nerve-jangling long takes that keep the camera glued to the chaos.

All of that shows up on ballots. White’s Carmy is one of the more complicated leads on TV, equal parts genius, guilt, and grind. He’s not a quippy sitcom anchor; he’s a guy who thinks faster than he speaks and sometimes breaks under his own standards. Awards voters tend to reward singular performances that define a season. That’s what White has delivered across multiple years.

The ensemble matters just as much. Eban Moss-Bachrach has become the show’s Swiss Army knife, toggling between swagger and vulnerability. Liza Colón-Zayas turning a quiet, steady backbone into an Emmy-winning arc wasn’t just good TV—it widened who gets seen in comedy categories. Her win last year as the first Latina in that slot landed beyond the awards community because it told a lot of viewers, “This space has room for you.”

The Bear’s 13 nominations this year say the momentum hasn’t cooled. Record-breaking seasons can be flukes; follow-up recognition means the industry still sees the work. Even with fewer total nods than last year’s mountain, the series kept a foothold in major races, which is usually the best predictor of long-term staying power.

As for the ceremony itself, the mechanics are simple. Attendance is never guaranteed. Some nominees can’t make it because of filming schedules on the other side of the world. Others have family commitments. Productions plan for this with seat fillers and alternate acceptances so broadcasts don’t stall. Fans may notice who’s missing, but the awards machine keeps humming.

White’s absence drew attention because it cut against the usual script. High-profile nominees typically walk the carpet, do the media lap, and sit through the show—even if they know they’re long shots. Skipping the spotlight when you’re at the top of your game reframes the night: the headline becomes the choice, not the dress or the speech.

Zoom out, and it fits the arc of The Bear itself. The series is about the trade-offs you make chasing excellence—what you sacrifice, who you keep close, and how you hold onto yourself while the world demands more. A best friend’s wedding winning out over a trophy ceremony isn’t a grand statement, but it’s a human one. It matches the show’s heart: people before prestige.

None of this dampens the season for FX. Awards campaigns are marathons, not sprints. The Bear is a bankable brand for the network and a dependable magnet for voters. Whether or not White makes the next carpet, the bigger story is that the series keeps converting buzz into nominations and nominations into wins. That’s the definition of a run.

For fans, the scoreboard is simple: Carmy still cooks, the cast keeps collecting hardware, and Chicago’s most stressful kitchen remains a must-watch. The Emmys are one night; the impact stretches well beyond it.