5 most egregious snubs of the 2020 Oscar nominations

Would it kill the Academy to nominate a female director or recognize an actor of color in a non-slave role? Apparently!

The 2020 Oscar nominations were announced early — far too early — Monday morning and, in what should come as no surprise but is disappointing nonetheless, they are overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly white.

There are some nice surprises in the mix — Parasite did indeed receive a nomination in the Best Picture category, outright, Antonio Banderas rightfully earned Best Actor recognition, Knives Out received a Best Original Screenplay nod, The Lighthouse a Cinematography nomination and Little Women wasn’t entirely snubbed, but that…is kind of it.

1. Greta Gerwig, also women directors, generally

Greta Gerwig is a wonderful director and Little Women is a beautiful, wonderfully directed film that reflects her own sensibilities and distinct directorial decisions while staying true to the beloved source material of a highly protective fanbase and somehow making everyone happy.

The fact she was not nominated as Best Director is absurd, doubly absurd when the Academy should already be playing make-up nomination for Lady Bird, triply absurd when you realize they should be desperate for a good female directorial candidate (of which there are so many: Lulu Wang for The Farewell,  Céline Sciamma for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Alma Har’el for Honey Boy Mati Diop for Atlantics, the list goes on).

2. Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong’o — an Oscar winner, someone the Academy has already recognized, they know her name — gave arguably the best performance of her career in Jordan Peele’s Us last year and nothing! One can argue that this is the horror stigma — Florence Pugh should have been nominated for Midsommar over Little Women, too — but the injustice remains. Nyong’o carried that film in two wildly different, deeply layered roles and scared the heck out of everyone in the process.

3. Jennifer Lopez

Like Us, Hustlers wasn’t necessarily an awards-caliber movie, but Jennifer Lopez was getting Oscar buzz for a reason when it premiered last fall. Her performance as the magnetic, calculating, maternal stripper-turned-scammer was phenomenal. (The cynic would also say a nomination for J. Lo would have made good business sense for the Academy’s ratings anxieties too, but please, don’t let that get in the way of recognizing Charlize Theron for wearing prosthetics well.)

4. Uncut Gems, specifically for directing

Uncut Gems was a pretty creative story and Adam Sandler gave a career-best performance — the film has been popular, meme-able and buzzy so it would not have been shocking to see it receive recognition for Best Picture, Best Screenplay or Best Actor. But the truly egregious snub was in the Best Director(s) category because dear god that movie was stressful beyond all belief. The tension, the anxiety, it was two-and-a-half hours of nerves fraying and Josh and Benny Safdie did that.

5. Frozen 2

This is less egregious than it is shocking. The Disney sequel was expected a lock in Best Animated Feature, but the only Oscar love it received was in Best Original Song. (However, the one nomination means we can’t say it was frozen out of the Oscars — Academy, first you come for diversity, no you rob us of our puns?)

Honorable mention

This list will be updated all day as we remember more deserving performances and films to be angry about.

• Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name
• Lulu Wang, Awkwafina, anyone/anything for The Farewell

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