Jessica Chastain Criticizes The Oscars for Not Giving Viola Davis A Nomination

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Chastain celebrated her former costar at the Chaplin Award Gala in NYC.

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Any Missed Opportunity

At the ceremony, Chastain spoke up about the Academy Awards not nominating Davis and The Woman King.

“When I see a movie like The Woman King, it has Viola’s fingerprints all over it. A movie like that with a female director and a cast of powerful Black female leads can get made in Hollywood today because of Viola’s lifelong advocacy for women of color. Maybe one day a movie like that can get nominated for an Oscar,” Chastain shared.

After her comment, she told PEOPLE, “Someone had to say it. I mean, come on. Not a single Oscar nomination for that movie? There had to be some Academy members in that room, right?”

Actress Viola Davis has been nominated for four Oscars, and won the Best Supporting Actress award in 2017 for her role in Fences. Jessica Chastain has also been nominated for three Oscars, and won the Best Actress award in 2020 for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Where Credit Is Due

Other celebs have mentioned exclusions for nominations in other categories, including The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood.

“I’ll never get over it, because what happened was egregious and … it speaks to such a bigger issue in our industry.”

“But,” she continued, “[it also speaks to] who I am, the people around me, these actors. We will never take our foot off the gas. We’re ready to do something next. We’re ready to do something as big, we’re ready to do something together. So we always keep that energy no matter what happens.”

Read More: Angela Bassett Mentions Ariana DeBose’s Viral BAFTAs Rap in NAACP Image Awards Acceptance Speech (rare.us)

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