The Real Reason Why B&B’s Scott Clifton Didn’t Submit Reels to the Daytime Emmys For Several Years

Scott Clifton, who plays Liam Spencer on The Bold and the Beautiful, has racked up Daytime Emmy wins over the years for Outstanding Younger Actor, Outstanding Supporting Actor, and Outstanding Lead Actor, which is a record for garnering all three. Now, he’s been nominated again for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor, and he recently had some things to say about his journey to this latest accolade.

A New Era

“I kind of thought the whole ‘Emmy nominations’ were over for me. They gave me three already,” Clifton told Michael Fairman TV in an interview posted on April 28. The record-holding actor admitted that he wasn’t happy that the Younger category is no more. He hadn’t been nominated since his last win but was still submitting video clips of his scenes despite not wanting to.

“I hadn’t planned on submitting anything,” Ciflton revealed. “I fought hard not to,” he added, “because I wanted to give everybody a break and disappear for a while. And that comes from a place of, like, support and encouragement, but the show really wanted me to submit every year, even when I didn’t feel like I had anything.” Because he didn’t feel the work he had done was nomination-worthy, he felt like he was wasting the Emmy voters’ time by submitting clips. He also thought that in doing so, he would cause them to resent him as well as B&B.

The show eventually threw its hands up in the air and gave in to him. “Then finally, the last two years, the show said, ‘OK, fine, you don’t want to submit, you don’t have to submit,'” he explained. However, this year, people Clifton trusts at the soap convinced him to submit a reel, so he did after not sending anything the past couple of years. “Then, this year, the Emmy voters gave me the nomination. I feel good about that.”

Clifton should be proud of himself because he’s made Liam both likable and unlikable at the same time, showing the true depth of his acting skill. Liam was horrified when he saw Hope (Annika Noelle) kissing Thomas (Matthew Atkinson), but he turned around and made it no secret that he would scoop up Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) in a heartbeat. But Finn (Tanner Novlan) calling him a “little puke” spoke volumes about his character and put a smile on our faces as his marriage spiraled down the toilet. (Learn more about Hope’s infamous kiss here.)

A gracious Clifton thanked executive producer Brad Bell for his hard work and acknowledged his peers by saying, “I know at the end of my life, I’m not going to remember winning Emmys. I’m going to remember that I was nominated alongside John McCook [Eric] and Thorsten Kaye [Ridge]. That’s what I’m going to remember, and that’s still blowing my mind. On the shoulders of giants doesn’t do it justice.”