This year’s Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe announcements might seem like a déjà vu for the Black Hollywood community with some major snubs like last year.
2020 was dubbed ‘the year of protests’ and there were some notable TV series and films that resounded the message of the Black Lives Matter movement that were expected to be nominated for this year’s Golden Globes.
There were also surprising nominations for others like John Boyega for Best Actor in a Television Supporting Role in Amazon’s “Small Axe” with Don Cheadle being the only other Black actor in the TV acting category to receive a nomination for Showtime’s “Black Monday.”
HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and “I May Destroy You”, Netflix’s period drama “Bridgerton” and Showtime’s “The Good Lord Bird” all had similar themes that resonated with the year had rave reviews but performed abysmally at the Globes, according to LA Times.
Surprisingly, neither Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods”, which received praise largely due to the role of Chadwick Boseman, nor Zendaya and John David Washington’s “Malcom &Marie”, which was shot during quarantine, received a nod from the HFPA.
Also, the four films this season with strong Black casts, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “One Night in Miami” and “Da 5 Bloods” were also brushed over as none received nominations for best picture which is known to be a top award even though some individual actors were nominated.
“One Night in Miami” also scored nominations for original song in a movie and director Regina King for her directorial debut.
This is the first time three female directors, including King, have been nominated by HFPA as best director; Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman,” GMA reports.
Viola Davis and Boseman also did it for “Ma Rainey’s Bottom while Daniel Kaluuya did it for “Judas” and Leslie Odom Jr. for “One Night in Miami.”
For TV, regardless of Uzo Aduba’s win at the Emmys for supporting actress in “Mrs America,” an ode to Shirley Chisholm, the Globes did not recognize her work.
“Lovecraft Country” earned a nomination for best drama series but the show’s top stars Jurnee Smollet and Jonathan Majors were looked over despite their amazing works in the series which explores relevant topics such as police brutality and racism.
The announcements for the 78th Golden Globes were made Wednesday night by Taraji P. Henson and Sarah Jessica Parker and the show, slated for February 28, will be hosted for the fourth time by Tina Fey and Anna Poehler.