Golden Globes so White? Black talent shut out of 2020 awards

By A.R. Shaw
Jan 06, 2020
11:46 am

The 2020 Golden Globes, which are voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, took place in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. This year’s awards ceremony got off to a rocky start in terms of diversity.

The show caught flack because no female directors were nominated. Many believed that Ava DuVuernay should have received a nod for her work on When They See Us, a gut-wrenching film about the five young teenage boys of color who were wrongfully convicted of an attack in Central Park in 1989.

Several prominent Black men and women were nominated. The nominations included Beyoncé for best original song, “Spirit” from the movie The Lion King; Billy Porter for best actor in a television series for “Pose”; Eddie Murphy for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy for Dolemite is My Name; Dolemite is My Name for best motion picture, musical or comedy; and Cynthia Erivo, best actress in a motion picture, drama for Harriet.

However, all Black talent was shut out during the ceremony. Tiffany Haddish, Wesley Snipes and Kerry Washington all presented awards.

The lack of diverse winners created a backlash on social media.

not a single African American person has won a golden globe this year and very few were even nominated. I wish the media did a better job at being inclusive of all races, it’s so unfair to all the talented people out there who aren’t white #goldenglobes

— rush beckardi (@beckardi22) January 6, 2020

So by now we can all agree there’s been a whole lot of white people handing off trophies to other white people tonight, right ? #GoldenGlobes

— Conor (@ConorThoo) January 6, 2020

So Elton John won the Golden Globe and I hear no one screaming white privilege.

Is it only ever white privilege when Taylor wins an award?

— Hesham Mashhour | Swiftie (@MashhourHesham) January 6, 2020