The nominations for the Oscar Awards are finally out. But conspicuously absent from the list are black actors like Will Smith and Idris Elba. Smith starred in "Concussion" which features the highly controversial brain injury problems suffered by football players. Elba, on the other hand, played his toughest role yet as a ruthless African warlord in "Beasts of No Nation."
Both movies deal in personal dramas with major roles played by black actors. "Straight Outta Compton" suffers the same fate with its entire black cast left out of the Oscar race.
"The Revenant" appears to be the front-runner in the latest Oscar race having won for Leonardo DiCaprio his first Golden Globe Best Actor award. Latest nominations for the 2016 Oscars have the harrowing revenge movie lording it over in the Best Actor and Best Film categories.
Reginald Hudlin, who is tasked to produce the 2016 Oscar, lamented the situation. "In a year with an extraordinary number of great performances by black actors that were embraced by audiences and embraced by critics, for them all to get ignored is tragic," cried Hudlin.
Surprisingly, the biggest blockbuster of the year, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was also snubbed by the Oscar. Also absent from the list are "Creed" and "Steve Jobs", both films earning praises from film critics.
For consolation, the latest "Star Wars" sequel which earned $1.7 billion world-wide, has been nominated for some technical awards, but nothing in the way of major categories like best director or best movie.
Sylvester Stallone was a surprise winner as Best Supporting Actor in last week's Golden Globe for his Rocky Balboa reprisal in "Creed", but it is not clear whether that award will influence jurors in the coming Oscar awards night.
"Steve Jobs" fared better than the rest by earning nominations for Michael Fassbender as Best Actor and Kate Winslet as Best Supporting Actress.
