With this year’s Oscars coming to a close, the conversation about the lack of diversity in the nominations is in full force. This was the second year in a row where all 20 lead and supporting actor nominees were white. What’s even more startling? This occurrence hasn’t happened since 1998!
Last year when the all white nominees were announced, April Reign, managing editor of BroadwayBlack.com, created the popular Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. After this year’s nominees were publicized, the hashtag reappeared, gaining even more attention than before. Below are a few of the tweets that have been circulating around Twitter using the hashtag.
Successful films such as Creed, Straight Outta Compton, and Beasts of No Nation were snubbed in the amount and type of Oscar nominations they received. Creed and Straight Outta Compton only received one nomination each and even those nominations were given to white people — supporting actor, Sylvester Stallone (Creed) and screenwriters Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton). With so much praise from critics and winnings from other awards programs, the Academy Awards seemed to have missed the memo.
Aside from this year’s lack of diversity among award nominees, the Academy’s track record of honoring black actors has been subpar. According to Screen Crush, in the entire 88 years of Academy Awards’ history only 14 black actors have won acting awards at the Oscars. These winners include the 1940 win for Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind, and Lupita Nyong’o’s performance in 12 Years A Slave in 2014.
News of this lack of ethnic variety ignited strong responses from several celebrities through social media. Following the release of this year’s nominations, Spike Lee took to Instagram to express his disapproval of the Academy Awards and to announce that he and his wife would not be attending. In a Good Morning America interview, Will Smith stated that he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith will not be in attendance at the Oscars either. Numerous other important figures such as Don Cheadle, Gina Rodriguez, Ava DuVernay, and even President Obama have voiced their frustrated opinions towards the absence of representation of people of color in the film industry.
Through the power of public opinion however, the governing board of the academy reached a unanimous vote to double female and minority members by 2020 according to USA Today. As of 2012, Oscar voters were 94% Caucasian and 77% male according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. With such a low amount of voters of color, it’s no surprise that the Oscars have had a shortage of diverse nominations.