The 2020 BAFTA nominations have been announced with Joker, The Irishman and Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood leading the nominations but there is already controversy.
All of the acting categories have been dominated by white actors ignoring the talents of Jennifer Lopez, Lupita Nyong'o and Awkwafina to name but a few.
Meanwhile, the best director category is all-male, ignoring directors such as Greta Gerwing, Joanna Hogg, Lulu Wang and Celine Sciamma who have all been widely praised for the films they have made in the last year.
This has led to the hashtag #BAFTAsowhite trending on Twitter with people suggesting who they feel should have been nominated for the awards instead.
These women of colour deserve your recognition: Jennifer Lopez - Hustlers Awkwafina - The Farewell Lupita Nyong'o… https://t.co/Tntll0j9jP— Hanna Ines Flint (@Hanna Ines Flint) 1578384301
Well BAFTA nominated no people of color this year... No Erivo, Nyong’o, Awkwafina, Lopez, Shuzhen, Murphy, or any P… https://t.co/WNrIIpsUww— JustLetGo (@JustLetGo) 1578383630
Antonio Banderas - Pain & Glory Eddie Mrphy - Dolemite is My Name Song Kang-ho as Kim Ki-taek - Parasite Choi Woo-s… https://t.co/uqsnBnvqql— Mal Jutley (@Mal Jutley) 1578390007
Very bad form @BAFTA another year of poorly represented categories! This sloppy approach trickles! And people wonde… https://t.co/gSpALWcEnb— Irvine Iqbal (@Irvine Iqbal) 1578388325
Amongst this was the outrage over the nominations of Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie who both received two acting nominations each, with the latter being nominated twice in the Best Supporting Actress category.
With the lack of diversity in the nominations the fact that two actresses are deemed to have given 40 per cent of the best performances of the year, no matter how good they are, has caused a lot of unrest and resentment towards BAFTA's decision.
When Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson each get two noms, over names like Lupita Nyong'o, Jennifer Lopez, Awkwaf… https://t.co/UB12nQb2RE— Guy Lodge (@Guy Lodge) 1578383871
Margot Robbie was nominated twice so that JLo would not be nominated BAFTA's mind ugh https://t.co/o9Lg3MzcH7— cydeltutoy #OustDuterteNow (@cydeltutoy #OustDuterteNow) 1578390598
Shocked at BAFTA for giving 2 noms to Margot Robbie, (in one role where she barely has any dialogue) and not nomina… https://t.co/YMUSgXxoCZ— Harriet King (she/her) (@Harriet King (she/her)) 1578384072
BAFTA Nom '20 - Robert De Niro didn't get best actor nom - All MEN director. Todd Phillips shouldn't be nominated.… https://t.co/Yr3XAckHKP— mungkin depi (@mungkin depi) 1578396213
It's unlikely that anyone means any ill will towards Robbie or Johansson, but the short-sightedness of this is unlikely to dissipate soon and will probably be ramped up even more when the actual awards take place on 2 February.
In response, BAFTA admitted that the lack of diversity in the nominations was "infuriating" and called on industry to change.
HT Sky News