The Academy Awards, aka Oscars, is a prestigious event in the entertainment industry that has come under...
The Academy Awards, aka Oscars, is a prestigious event in the entertainment industry that has come under backlash for seemingly being so white earning them the hashtag #OscarSoWhite on social media. This has led to the Academy diversifying the members of its voting body in order to give everyone a chance.
A new list was recently released of the new invitees of the voting body and it included Nollywood actress, Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian-British actress Cynthia Erivo and Nigerian filmmaker Akin Omotosho.
Akin Omotosho, Genevieve Nnaji, Cynthia Erivo Source: Instagram In order to increase the diversity of the voting body, 819 new members were invited with 45% of them being women and 35% of them from underrepresented ethnic or racial communities. Academy president, David Rubin said:
“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travellers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now.” If all the 819 people invited accept the invitation, it would bring the total number of members to 9,412.
Nigerian actress, Genevieve, acknowledged the invite on social media via her verified Twitter page. The Lionheart star said that she was honoured to be a member of the family. See her tweet below:
I’m honored to be a member of the family. Thank you @TheAcademy !! https://t.co/KBmza9he9E
— Genevieve Nnaji MFR (@GenevieveNnaji1) July 1, 2020
