The Oscars Haven’t Been This White in 19 Years

Today’s Oscar nominations contained a host of snubs that have critics and commentators up in arms (as they do every year). But the optics of this year’s slate are particularly egregious when you combine the surprising coolness towards Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma—nominated for Best Picture but missing in the Director, Actor, and Screenplay categories—with the fact that all 20 acting nominees this year are white, the first time such a thing has happened since the Oscars honoring the films of 1995.