Sunday night's SAG Awards made viewers turn to twitter again and reignite the diversity discussion that has been such a hot topic in Hollywood in the last two weeks.
When this year's Oscar nominations were announced on January 14th, many took to criticizing the Academy on the lack of diversity among the nominated. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite started to trend, and, since then, many notable Hollywood players have aired their opinions on the matter.
But after Elba, Viola Davis, Uzo Aduba and Queen Latifah took home prizes at the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, diversity moved right back into the spotlight!
Elba, 43, took home two awards in fact, one for "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries" for his leading role in British crime drama, Luther, and one for "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role" for his work in American war film Beasts of No Nation. The British actor was not shy to bring up the recent controversy and made his personal opinion quite clear on the subject.
Elba lead-off his second acceptance speech saying "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to diverse TV."
The events of the night have since been called a celebration of diversity and have sparked the birth of the counter hashtag #SAGSoBlack on social media.
With less than a month until the Oscars, one can debate whether or not Sunday night's winners will have an impact on the coming awards show, but perhaps it will inspire some positive change. What do you think? Were the SAG Awards a move in the right direction?
See what Gillian Anderson had to say on the Oscar controversy when she appeared on Larry King Now! in January.
- Pari Heidari
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC, its affiliates, or its employees.
