Every 2020 Oscar controversy, explained

The Oscars comes with its fair share of glitz, glamor and fun times. But the show is also known for its controversies throughout the years. Here’s what’s going down this year.

There are good movies, great movies even, nominated for this year’s Academy Awards. Director Bong Joon-ho’s movie Parasite has been generating a lot of buzz, and people are excited to see how talent like Florence Pugh and Margot Robbie will fair. The show is even stacked with a long list of great presenters, including the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Keanu Reeves and Gal Gadot.

However, with great movies and great stars comes controversy. The Oscars has never shied away from a little controversy (or a lot). In fact, they seem to get more and more controversial every year. Here are all the controversies (so far) from the 2020 Oscars.

As always, Oscars so white

This isn’t really anything new. The Oscars are criticized every single year for its lack of diversity. However, this year seems to be much worse than previously. The only non-white actor nominated is Cynthia Erivo, who played Harriet Tubman in Harriet. 

There were so many great people of color that could have been nominated but instead were snubbed. I mean come on, are we really going to ignore how amazing Lupita Nyong’o was in Us this past year? What about Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name? Jennifer Lopez also didn’t receive a nomination for her work in Hustlers. This marked another year where actors of color were overshadowed by an overwhelmingly white list of nominees.

No girls allowed

Can we just talk about the fact that Greta Gerwig was snubbed? This is the second year in a row that the Best Director category has been all male. In 2019, there were tons of critically acclaimed movies directed by women, yet none of them received nominations.

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women was nominated for Best Picture, Costume Design, Score, Actress in a Leading Role, and Actress in a Supporting Role. Gerwig did get a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, however, when it comes to the Best Director category, she’s left out.

Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Lulu Wang’s The Farewell also got snubbed, as well as Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers. 

Oscars goes hostless, again

In 2018, the Academy Awards hit a record low with terrible views. ABC put pressure on them to make changes in favor of quality, and when the show went hostless last year, ratings actually improved.

If you don’t remember, Kevin Hart was supposed to host the Oscars in 2019. However, a series of homophobic tweets resurfaced, and the internet called for him to be removed from the hosting game. He stepped down, and the Oscars went hostless, even after Hart was re-offer the position after a change of mind. This year, they’ve done the same thing. We’ll see how it goes.

Nigerian film denied entry

Recently, the category of Best Foreign Language Film was renamed Best International Feature Film. While the category changes, its rules remained the same. Films are only eligible if they aren’t in English.

Nigeria’s Oscar submission, Lionheart, was then denied entry because most of the film is in English while only some of it is in Igbo. You would think that because the title no longer has “foreign language” in it, the film would be eligible. However, it was rejected because of the predominance of English in the film.

Genevieve Nnaji, the film’s director, spoke up about the issue on Twitter, saying, “This movie represents the way we speak as Nigerians. This includes English which acts as a bridge between the 500+ languages spoken in our country; thereby making us #OneNigeria.”

Joker’s Best Picture nomination catches flack

Vox describes a Best Picture-winning film as one that “essentially represents the American movie industry’s view of its accomplishments in the present and its aspirations for the future.”

Out of all the films nominated, Joker doesn’t seem to fit in. Topics in the Best Picture category feature subjects like World War I, car racing, Hitler, divorce, a reimagined Hollywood history, and gangsters.

Joker doesn’t really fit the bill when matched with these other films. Joker has the most nominations total, at 11, which would normally serve as a prediction for its Best Picture win, but the odds aren’t looking good for the film.

We can keep hoping that the Oscars will step their game up next year, or the year after that, but they keep delivering controversial year after year. Maybe they aren’t capable of change, or maybe they’re fueled by controversy to keep them going.