The 'Color Purple' star says no to the offer to perform at the upcoming 73rd annual BAFTA Film Awards after she was snubbed in the recently-announced nominations.
- Jan 8, 2020
AceShowbiz - Cynthia Erivo reportedly turned down the opportunity to perform at the BAFTA Awards, due to all the acting nominees for gongs at the event being white.
The 33-year-old British actress had been hotly tipped to land a BAFTA nomination for her role in biopic "Harriet", about Harriet Tubman. However, when the nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, it quickly became clear that while Cynthia had missed out on a nod - there were actually no actors of colour in any of the major acting categories. Instead, stars such as Cynthia, Lupita Nyong'o, and Daniel Kaluuya missed out on the honour in favour of actors including Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, and Joaquin Phoenix.
According to Variety, BAFTA bosses had invited Cynthia to perform at the ceremony on February 2 back in December 2019 - prior to the nominations being announced. Her representatives are said to have explained the actress would make a decision after the nominations, at which point she apparently declined the invite.
After the nominations were announced, movie fans expressed their anger about the lack of diversity using the Twitter hashtag #BAFTASoWhite, and asked about the issue by the Press Association, BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry said, "Being totally honest, we are disappointed and that is not to take anything away from the people who have been nominated."
She went on to cite the Rising Star category, which boasts "Top Boy" and "Blue Story" star Micheal Ward, Awkwafina, and Kelvin Harrison Jr., among the nominees, as an example of how things will change in the future.
"That group was a much more diverse group of actors and again that is talent at the start of its career so we are seeing these changes coming through," she said.
