BGD Opinion: Historic Wins at the 92nd Oscar's, but is There Still a Lack of Diversity & Inclusion?

The Oscars has been known for its lack of diversity and exclusion of minority groups and people of color. Did the #Oscars2020 make strides to become more #inclusive of ALL groups of people? Not quite... It is clear that there is a lot of progress that needs to be made; diversifying the nominees is one major issue that needs to be addressed.

For the first time in Oscar's history, viewership was at an all time low. Shocker? Not so much! Viewership plummeted to 23.6 million, which is a 20% decrease in viewers from last year. #yikes Ratings in the adult demographic (18-49 years) also decreased by 31% from last year in this age demographic. The question at hand is what is causing this substantial decrease. Could it be due to a result of the #lackofrepresentation and diversity in the Oscar's culture? Trends like #OscarsSoWhite show that the decrease in support for the Oscars is likely due to the absence of diversity. Here are a few tweets from users that used the hashtag to opine the Oscars:

Although a lot of progress needs to be made, it is meaningful to highlight the (very few) moments in which diversity was illustrated. First, Parasite makes history for winning best picture, which is the first foreign film to do so. The film director, Bong Joon-Ho, a South Korean, won for best director. I thought that was super cool. Second, Cynthia Erivo was the ONLY NON-WHITE actor nominated for Best Actress and Best Original Song for her role in Harriet. Talk about lack of diversity! But even though she didn't win, I had to recognize her amazing performance in the film. Cynthia also put on a stellar musical performance -- she sung "Stand Up," which is the anthem for the movie.

Last but not least, I had to highlight Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver's win for Best Short Film for Hair Love. Karen is the first African American woman to be nominated in this category! The film illustrates #BlackGirlMagic, #GirlDad, #BlackLove, #SelfLove and so much #positive imagery. If you have not seen it, I would highly suggest you do so! The full film can be seen here:

#BlackGirlMagic at the Oscars

I can't forget to mention the #BlackGirlMagic that was shown on the Oscar's red carpet. One word to describe the #Queens on the red carpet is WOW! Here are some of my favorite looks: