Actress from Emmett Till movie blames racism, sexism for Oscars snub

The day following the Oscar nominations, "Till" director Chinonye Chukwu took to Instagram to blame "whiteness" and "misogyny" for the snub, writing "We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women."

When asked about her director's words on a Friday episode of the film review podcast, "Kermode & Mayo's Take" with critics Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, Deadwyler concurred and cited "misogynoir," a term coined by feminist writer Moya Bailey who defined it as "the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces."

"We're talking about people who perhaps chose not to see the film — we're talking about misogynoir — like it comes in all kinds of ways, whether it's direct or indirect," Deadwyler said. "It impacts who we are."

She continued, echoing Chukwu's thoughts on "whiteness."

"I think the question is more on people who are living in whiteness, white people's assessment of the spaces they are privileged by," the 40-year-old actress said. "We've seen it exist in a governmental capacity — it can exist on a societal capacity, be it global or national."

While Deadwyler was unsatisfied with the lack of attention given to her by the Academy, the Associated Press reported that she had already been recognized by being nominated by the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the BAFTAs, as well as winning best lead performance at the Gotham Awards.

Fellow black actress Viola Davis also failed to secure an Oscar nomination this year, though the "Woman King" star has already been nominated for an Oscar four times and won for her roll in Fences from 2016

"The Woman King" director Gina Prince-Bythewood also brought up racism when speaking on the lack of Oscar for Davis and Deadwyler.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the director said "the Academy made a very loud statement, and for me to stay quiet is to accept that statement."

"People like to say, 'Well, Viola and Danielle had studios behind them.' But we just very clearly saw that social capital is more valuable than that," she continued. "That type of power is exercised in more casual ways in social circles, where folks are your friends or your acquaintances. There may be diversity on your sets but not in your lives. And Black women in this industry, we don't have that power."

"Nobody is absolved of not participating in racism and not knowing that there is a possibility of its lingering effect on the spaces and the institution," Prince-Bythewood added.

As the New York Times reports, the complaints of racism in the Best Actress category followed the nomination of white actress Andrea Riseborough for her performance in the small, independent film To Leslie.

"Her surprise nomination was weighed against the snubs of the 'Woman King' star Viola Davis and the 'Till' lead Danielle Deadwyler: If those two Black actresses had been nominated alongside the 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' star Michelle Yeoh, as many pundits were expecting, it would have been the first time in Oscar history that the best actress race featured a majority of women of color," according to the New York Times.

Riseborough was accused of using her "social capital" to garner the nomination by Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood and many activists demanded an investigation into lobbying efforts within the Hollywood community on behalf of Riseborough for the nomination.