Viola Davis, Danielle Deadwyler and company are basically offended that their by-the-books, even generic, films were not rewarded by the Academy. They wanted to be recognized, goddammit! It’s just awful behavior on their parts.
This has resulted in the five nominated lead actresses, and that includes Malaysian-born Michelle Yeoh and Cuban-born Ana de Armas, being shunned from the spotlight. It’s plain disrespect, there’s no other way to put it.
Judging from her remarks on BBC’s Today program, Yeoh seems a tad irked about the constant complaints that Andrea Riseborough stole a nomination from a black actress. You tell me:
“The Academy has always prided itself on having regulations and playing by the rules and if [cheating them] was so easy it would have done before […] We are always evolving on how to protect our integrity and I have great faith we will continue to do that.”
“I love [Viola and Danielle] to the extreme and wish we were all getting Oscars but it’s tough,” she added. “It took me 40 years to even get a nomination. Every single actor and actress puts their heart and soul into these movies and you don’t necessarily start thinking you are going to get nominated. The stories we want to tell are more important.”
Of course, Yeoh is being a tad too polite. I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but that’s part of the politics that come with Oscar campaigning. You don’t want to anger a certain faction of the voting body. But what she’s trying to convey is clear: Riseborough got nominated fair and square, now let’s move on.
Also, Yeoh must find it quite ironic that some of her peers are calling out the academy’s racism when she’s not only in the race, but could very well be the first Asian-born Lead Actress to win a Lead Oscar.