Oscars 2020: Number of black nominees hits 3-year low with only five performers in top categories

The Oscars 2020 has received considerable flack due to its lack of female directors in the final nominations and absence of diversity in top categories, several reports claim.The number of black nominees in this year's ceremony has dipped to a three-year low this time. Only five black artistes are present in the major categories this year, which is a fair drop from 15 in the last year, 13 in 2018, and 18 in 2017.In 2019, the only black acting nominee was Cynthia Erivo, nominated for best actress for Harriet, and best song for 'Stand Up' (from Harriet). Composer Joshuah Brian Campbell, who co-wrote the song is also black. Other names include Les Misérables director Ladj Ly, who is contending for best international feature, and the Hair Love team of Matthew A Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver, up for best animated short category.This failing comes as a surprise especially after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the backbone behind the Oscars, decided to purposefully diversify its voting body after it failed to nominate any actors of colour in 2016 and 2015. This incident even sparked the #OscarsSoWhite movement across the globe.After the earlier criticism, the group made additions of around 2000 global artistes, which bolstered the percentage of minority members to 16 percent in 2018, which was a spike from 2015's 8 percent.As per a report in Variety, this year's nominations were also met with negative reactions by some Oscar voters who thought films like Just Mercy, Dolemite Is My Name, Waves, and Clemency featured exceptional works from black artistes.The report adds that this development is also step back from the standpoint of black performers bagging the Oscar for two of the four top acting categories in 2019's ceremony (If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King and Green Book’s Mahershala Ali).Check out posts on the Oscars 2020