BAFTA’s condemned for lack of diversity as all-white acting nominees are announced

THE British Academy Film and Television Arts awards (BAFTA) have been slammed for their ‘lack of diversity in the acting nominees’.

Bosses at the coveted film awards said that it was “disappointing and infuriating” that its members had selected all-white performers, where female directors also failed to be recognised for the seventh year in a row.

Before the nominations were announced, the press had banked on Greta Gerwig being awarded for directing an adaptation of Little Women, however she was only recognised in the adapted screenplay category, leaving an all-male line-up. This included Sir Sam Mendes for 1917, Todd Phillips for Joker, Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time, and Bong Joon-ho for Parasite.

Addressing the lack of diversity, Amanda Berry, the Chief Executive of the film awards spoke to PA news agency and said: “Being totally honest, we are disappointed and that is not to take anything away from the people who have been nominated.”

Marc Samuelson, the Chairman of BAFTA’s film committee, also weighed into debate and said :

“Clearly everybody knows that everybody in the four acting groups of nominees are white, it’s infuriating, we can’t make the industry do something, all we can do is encourage and push and inspire and try to help people coming in at the bottom end.”

The winners and nominees in the majority of the categories for the awards are voted for by 6,500 members, comprised of industry professionals from across the world.