50th NAACP Image Awards Preview

This year marks the 50th NAACP Image Awards, which will air March 30th on TV One. The program recognizes and honors excellence in film, television, music and literature. Members of the NAACP vote for the prizes. The NAACP is an organization that advocates for African-Americans. The awards as a result leans toward recognizing and honoring black entertainers in media. The group has also nominated entertainers who have been other minorities, but the group could do a better job of it. The group is not without its controversy. Several times, the group has nominated white people in certain categories like for example Justin Timberlake who was up for Best Male Artist two years in a row.

This year, a bit of controversy has arisen about Jussie Smollett (pictured above) who is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Smollett plays Jamal Lyon on FOX's Empire. Project 21, a black conservative group, has called on the NAACP to rescind Smollett's nomination because Smollett was arrested and indicted on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct and filing a false report. Those charges were dropped on March 26. This isn't the first time though controversy has risen resulting in people wanting a nomination rescinded.

In 1994, Tupac Shakur was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in Poetic Justice. People were against this nomination due to sexual assault charges filed against Shakur the previous year. In 2004, R. Kelly was nominated for Outstanding Album for Chocolate Factory, but people were against him because he was indicted for child pornography charges.

The NAACP has never rescinded a nomination. If Smollett shows up for the ceremony, that will be news in itself. He's won in that category before, but the likelihood is that he won't. He probably wouldn't have won, even if this controversy surrounding him hadn't happened.

African-Americans and even other minorities don't get a lot of opportunities in major Hollywood productions. And often, the opportunities that black people do get aren't that great. This is certainly not the case for 2018. This past year is actually an embarrassment of riches when it comes to films and black representation. This is also perhaps one of the best years in a really long time in terms of diversity. That being said, I still have snubs to point out. This year though, I can barely harp about the show shutting out good material for poorer ones, but still there is good material that got shut out.

For Outstanding Motion Picture, the nominees are Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, If Beale Street Could Talk and The Hate U Give.

For Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, the nominees are BlacKkKlansman, If Beale Street Could Talk, Nappily Ever After, Sorry to Bother You and Traffik.

This happens often that these categories will feature one or two overlapping titles. This is fine in a year that's lacking in diversity or leading African-American films. This isn't the case this year. With so many films with so much diversity to have more than one overlap is a bit ridiculous.

It should be noted that the film that won the Oscar for Best Picture was Green Book, which is about racism in the 60's and an African-American musician's road trip. Yet, Green Book is not up for Outstanding Motion Picture here. Green Book has been compared to Driving Miss Daisy (1989), which also won the Oscar for Best Picture nearly 30 years ago, but got snubbed at that year's NAACP Image Awards. I'm not saying Green Book should have been nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture, but the parallel is fascinating.

Similarly, Rami Malek won the Oscar for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards for his role in Bohemian Rhapsody. Malek is of Egyptian descent, which means he's Arab. The NAACP Image Awards hasn't honored Arab or Middle Eastern people much, if none at all. There aren't many that have been in a lot of mainstream films, but this one seems like a huge oversight. Again, I'm not saying Malek should have been nominated, but snubbing an Oscar-winner of color is curious.

Yalitza Aparicio is the Indigenous-Mexican person who was nominated at this year's Academy Awards for her role in Roma. It's notable because it's just as rare for a Native American to be recognized in such a way. Native Americans are also virtually ignored at the NAACP Image Awards. This year proves no different as Aparicio was snubbed here too. If she were nominated, she would have been up for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture.

For Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, the nominees are Amandla Stenberg in The Hate U Give, Constance Wu in Crazy Rich Asians, Kiki Layne in If Beale Street Could Talk, Sanna Lathan in Nappily Ever After and Viola Davis in Widows.

It's not a fun game to play, but I would replace Lathan with Aparicio in this category. Lathan is an incredible actress for sure, but her film Nappily Ever After wasn't as well received as Roma. Both films streamed on Netflix and obviously the company put a lot of money behind Roma, but the critical reception between the two is something that can't necessarily be bought and that critical love clearly went to Roma, so I don't see why the preference for Lathan.

The Spirit Awards have always been a great vehicle for showcasing diversity. Some interesting films that were featured at the Spirit Awards that should have also been featured here include We the Animals, Madeline's Madeline, Sócrates, Burning, Shoplifters and Searching. The first film would have provided an opportunity to recognize Latino actors like Raúl Castillo. The latter three would have provided opportunities to recognize more Asian actors. Constance Wu did get a nomination but she's one of the rare cases. Suraj Sharma is the only Asian male actor nominated ever at the NAACP Image Awards.

To me, the snubs that the NAACP could have acknowledged and certainly should have was Blindspotting, The Rider, Night Comes On and Monsters and Men. Blindspotting was ranked in the top ten films by the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA). It was nominated for a Directors Guild and Spirit Award, which aren't small things. The Rider was highly acclaimed, landing on a ton of top ten lists from critics. Night Comes On and Monsters and Men were even more overlooked but both were knock outs.

For Outstanding Comedy Series, the nominees are Insecure, Black-ish, Grown-ish, Dear White People and Atlanta.

For Outstanding Drama Series, the nominees are This Is Us, Queen Sugar, The Chi, Power and How To Get Away With Murder.

For Outstanding TV Movie, Limited Series or Dramatic Special, the nominees are Behind the Movement, The Simone Biles Story: Courage to Soar, The Bobby Brown Story, Seven Seconds and Jesus Christ Superstar.

When it comes to television, it's hard to debate these three lists. However, it is a little disappointing that the NAACP didn't recognize FX's Pose, CW's All American, CBS' The Good Fight and Amazon's Homecoming. Stephan James who was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in If Beale Street Could Talk could have been a double-nominee for his role in Homecoming.

But, speaking of double nominees, Regina King is a double nominee for her roles in If Beale Street Could Talk and Netflix's Seven Seconds. Russell Hornsby is a double nominee for The Hate U Give and Seven Seconds. Viola Davis is a double nominee with her roles in Widows and How To Get Away With Murder. So is Sanaa Lathan for her roles in Nappily Ever After and Showtime's The Affair. Marsai Martin is a double nominee but only because her role in Black-ish was recognized twice in different categories. The same is true for Winston Duke, Letitia Wright, Kiki Layne and John David Washington.

Technically, John David Washington is a triple nominee. His role in BlacKkKlansman was recognized twice and his role in HBO's Ballers was also recognized. Michael B. Jordan is also a triple nominee for his roles in Black Panther, Creed II and Fahrenheit 451.

The 50th NAACP Image Awards airs on Saturday, March 30 on TV One.