Published 20:16 IST, January 7th 2020
BAFTA nominations observe lack of diversity in acting categories, sparks backlash
Bafta Nominations were recently revealed and fans noticed an ongoing pattern with the event. Fans called out the show and expressed their grief on Twitter.
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After the huge controversy that surrounded the Oscars with the hashtag that read ‘#OscarsSoWhite’. The entire debate sparked when the 2015 BAFTA voters failed to include a single non-white actor on their list of nominees. The trend sparked again in 2017 when the leading actors were all white and the list did not include a single actor of colour.
BAFTA nominations observe lack of diversity in acting categories, sparks backlash
Soon after, in 2018, a report was published by a daily that ninety-four per cent of the nominees for BAFTA were all white. Now in 2020, the same argument has sparked Twitter once again and fans of films have got it to trend all over social media.
The names of BAFTA nominees got unveiled on Tuesday and among them were the nominations for leading actor and supporting cast.
It was observed that approximately twenty names from the list were all white. Fans argued as they failed to mention, Harriet's Cynthia Erivo, Hustlers' Jennifer Lopez, Dolemite is My Name's Eddie Murphy or The Farewell's Awkwafina, who all had Golden Globe nominations.
The Rising Star category which were selected by a jury rather than members, seen some diversity, with local boy Micheal Ward (Blue Story) plus Awakafina and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Waves) nominated for the emerging talent honour. Here are some of the tweets from fans.
Denzel Washington has never been nominated for a BAFTA award. Morgan Freeman too. They are two of the greatest and most acclaimed actors working today. Of course you can’t recognize every great performance by a POC but you can’t deny that there is a racist pattern #BAFTASSoWhite
— parasite and little women oscar manager (@notwilliamhmacy) January 7, 2020
The #EEBAFTAs are so white that Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson are both nominated twice. #BAFTASSoWhite https://t.co/g7X5cN4DRT
— Emma Kelly (@TooManyEmmas) January 7, 2020
This ain't about some forced diversity, but when you see the work that was done by people like Lupita Nyong'o, Alfre Woodard, Cynthia Enrivo, Awkwafina, the cast of Parasite, and these are the nominations you end up with, something is clearly wrong. #EEBAFTAS #BaftasSoWhite
— Zande (@KingZairois) January 7, 2020
Not a SINGLE person of colour was nominated at the BAFTA's this year. They could have nominated Lupita, Awkafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Jennifer Lopez, Cynthia Erivo, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, or any one of the Parasite actors, they didn't. #BAFTAS #BaftasSoWhite
— Aayaan Upadhyaya (@Aayu17) January 7, 2020
#BAFTASSoWhite they nominated the same white woman twice in the same category so they wouldn’t have to give a slot to a deserving actor of color.
— Jefferson Grubbs (@MrScreenAddict) January 7, 2020
Not a single person of color nominated despite plenty of contenders. No Lopez. No Nyong'o. No Erivo. No Shuzhen. No Awkwafina. No Parasite actors. No Murphy. #BAFTASsowhite
— Alejandro (@adounce) January 7, 2020
Updated 20:16 IST, January 7th 2020