Kendrick Lamar, Gracie Abrams and Zoe Saldaña earn Webby Award nominations, along with Nutter Butter

By Canadian Press on April 1, 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — Kendrick Lamar, Gracie Abrams, Zoe Saldaña and Nutter Butter are among the nominees for this year’s Webby Awards, recognizing the best internet content and creators.

The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences will announce the nominees on Tuesday, the result of nearly 13,000 entries from over 70 countries. The Associated Press got an early look.

A mullet-filled song about jorts performed by Will Ferrell, Nick Jonas and Jimmy Fallon was nominated for best general music video and film, and it will next face off against Abrams’ 20-minute behind-the-music “The Secret of Us.”

The Generation Alpha phenomenon known as Skibidi Toilet got a nod for the fan multiverse by studio Invisible Narratives, while Donald Duck celebrated his 90th birthday by appearing on “Hot Ones” and earned a nomination for eating spicy chicken wings while steam came out of his mouth.

The category for top video or film comedy pits Jim Gaffigan, The Onion, the makeover series “Very Important People” and humor from Kai Cenat, Kevin Hart and Druski. They face stiff competition from Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman cracking on each other in a “Tonight” show skit.

“New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce,” which won two Webby awards last year — including People’s Voice Award for best co-hosts — is back, nominated this time for best podcast video series. Saldaña’s appearance on the Netflix podcast “Skip Intro” to discuss her role in the film “Emilia Pérez” earned her a Webby nod for best individual podcast interview.

In beauty, Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty line faces off against Alexis Bittar’s “The Bittarverse,” Byrdie, Retrofête and theSkimm. The language-learning app Duolingo’s parody of “The Bear” with its murderous mascot, Duo, got a nod, too.

Cynthia Erivo was nominated for an episode of the video series “Celebrity Substitute,” in which she visited a New York City public school to teach elementary students the importance of storytelling. She and Ariana Grande also got nods for their viral “holding space” interview for “Wicked.”

The awards are selected by the academy, while The Webby People’s Voice Award is voted on by fans around the world. Voting for that award is open now until April 17. Winners for all awards will be announced April 22 and will be invited to a ceremony May 12 hosted by Ilana Glazer.

Media companies earning the highest number of nominations are NBCUniversal with 24, MTV Entertainment Studios with 18, CNN and National Geographic with 16 each, and tied with 14 are PBS, The Walt Disney Company and The Washington Post.

Matthew McConaughey’s Super Bowl ad for Uber Eats that uncovered a conspiracy between football and food made the cut in two categories. Kelley Heyer’s often-copied “Apple” dance to the song by Charlie xcx, and Ogilvy’s unhinged commercial for CeraVe with Michael Cera both became elligible for a Webby.

Music video nominations were handed out to Dua Lipa’s “Illusion,” Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi,” Charli xcx’s “Von Dutch and Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.” They’ll all face off against Lamar’s monster hit “Not Like Us.”

Keke Palmer got two nods — one as the host of her own podcast “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” and another for appearing on “Paging Dr. Chanda.” Oprah Winfrey did the same, netting one for “The Oprah Podcast” and the other for appearing on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show.”

The 56-year-old cookie brand Nutter Butter went viral in 2024 for hard-to-explain images on TikTok — one looks like a peanut butter crime scene — and landed two Webby nominations. And the popular “SmartLess” podcast earned nominations for best comedy podcast and best co-hosts for Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.

Podcasts going up against “SmartLess” in the comedy section include “Office Ladies,” “Lovett or Leave It,” “Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker” and the reigning champ “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang,” which on Monday won a comedy Ambie, an award handed out by The Podcast Academy.

“Pod Save America” is nominated beside “Next Question with Katie Couric” in the best politics podcasts, while “The Pink House with Sam Smith” earned one in the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging category.

Academy members include writer and actor Quinta Brunson, comedian and writer Amelia Dimoldenberg, Tubi CEO Anjali Sud, Kraft Heinz executive Todd Kaplan, Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, NFL star Shannon Sharpe, Unilever executive Esi Eggleston Bracey, Wondery CEO Jen Sargent and Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden.

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press

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