You know Nick Offerman: husband of Megan Mullally, Parks & Recreation alum, a real-life mountain man with the giggle of an angel. Anyway, Nick was back on our TV screens recently thanks to his role on the HBO mega-hit The Last Of Us, where he played the character of Bill.
Well, over the weekend, Nick took home his first ever Independent Spirit Award for that role, winning for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and beating out the likes of Billie Eilish, Jack Farthing, Adina Porter, Lewis Pullman, Benny Safdie, Luke Tennie, Olivia Washington, Jessica Williams, and even his own co-star, Murray Bartlett.
Taking the stage to accept the award, Nick started by sharing his disbelief to even be nominated, saying, “I am astonished to be in this category, which is bananas. Congrats to all of you. This is crazy.”
He then went on to thank HBO for “having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent” before going on to clarify what he meant while slamming the anti-gay conversations that have occurred online around his character’s story, saying, “Stories with guts, that when homophobic hate comes my way and says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, ‘Because you ask questions like that.’ It’s not a gay story. It’s a love story, you asshole.”
Nick’s character on the show is heavily featured in an episode titled “Long, Long Time” which examines Bill’s nearly twenty-year-long relationship with the character of Frank (played by the aforementioned Murray Bartlett). The episode is wonderful and was highly-rated by many outlets upon its release; but, as a result of the episode’s contents, the two actors involved have since experienced undue backlash online due to their characters’ sexuality—though, Nick obviously wasn’t afraid to let these “fans” know his stance via his acceptance speech.
Nick then ended the speech by playfully shouting out his beloved wife, jokingly referring to her as, “My bride and my puzzle coach and legal property—I’ll love you forever.”
Nick’s speech—particularly his comments calling out the anti-gay rhetoric of some The Last of Us viewers—quickly went viral and has been praised by viewers and non-viewers of the show alike:
The Last of Us won’t return for a second season until sometime in 2025, but until then, I’ll be over here loving Nick Offerman!