The best, most meme-worthy development during the Oscar-nominations announcement Monday morning came from none other than Issa Rae who, after reading the all-male list of Best Director nominees, quipped, “Congratulations to those men.”
“Wow, Issa Rae. Damn. You know you’re in trouble when someone can throw shade while congratulating you,” cracked The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah. “And I’ll be honest: I get why she said that. Because those aren’t all just male directors, those are all very male movies. Like, if you take out Parasite, women probably have ten minutes of dialogue in all the other films combined.”
Yes, on Monday night, the comedian dedicated a segment of his program to the #OscarNoms, which saw Greta Gerwig get passed over for a Best Director nod for Little Women in favor of the guy who directed The Hangover 3.
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“I mean, where’s Little Women?” asked Noah. “Personally, I loved the movie. Also, the Oscar voters loved the movie, which is weird. It’s really strange, because it was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, two acting nominations, and somehow Greta Gerwig was not nominated for Director. How the hell does that happen?!”
Eventually, Noah addressed the lack of diversity among the acting nominees. Of the 20 acting nominees, only one—Cynthia Erivo for Harriet—is a person of color.
“I’m glad that at least one black woman was nominated for Best Actress. Congratulations to Cynthia Erivo, that’s exciting,” offered Noah. “Although, it is kind of predictable that it was for playing a slave. And I’m not saying she didn’t deserve it, but just imagine if every white actor that was nominated got it for playing a supervisor at Whole Foods. White people, you’re more than just that!”
