As usual no person of colour took home the 2023 BAFTA awards. The #BaftasSoWhite hashtag is trending on social media by the disappointed audience to draw attention to the lack of diversity in the BAFTA awards which has become like a negative tradition of the ceremony. Racism simply rules the BAFTA awards for not place for people of colour. Looks like the white artists still believe that they are supreme and fail to recognise the immense talents a person of another colour can hold. Racism reigns supreme at BAFTA which is kind of ingrained in the minds of the British. This year’s nominations list had stars like Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Viola Davis at the top of the list, but not a single person of colour took home a 2023 Bafta, which many took personally.
According to the BBC report, the BAFTA awards ceremony had a diverse set of nominees, with people belonging to ethnic minorities taking almost 40 percent of acting shortlist slots. But that did not translate into wins, with the 49 victors across all categories being white. It comes three years after an outcry and subsequent reforms when all 20 acting nominees were white.
BAFTA definitely is one of the most racist awrds dominated by white supremacy and has no place for coloured craftsmen. Marcus Ryder, director of consultancy at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, said Sunday’s results were “quite depressing”, and showed there had been “no substantial change” over the past decade. “Ten years ago, in 2013, Lenny Henry made headlines at the TV BAFTAS when he labelled it as ‘All white on the night’,” he said.
“And depressingly, despite a massive overhaul, on which I and many other industry people were consulted and which resulted in 120 changes to the BAFTA award processes, 1,000 new members from under-represented groups etc, the end result is there is no substantial change.”
Film and TV critic and BAFTA short film jury member Ashanti Omkar took to social media and said she felt quite devastated after watching the ceremony and seeing the group photo of winners. “Alison Hammond was the only person of the global majority in it, and she was not a winner but working at the event like many others who added colour to the red carpet, performed music and presented awards,” she said. “That felt regressive and like these were cosmetic steps forward as opposed to real systemic change.”
Film critic Omkar further added, the winners all deserved awards, but that she worried about whether people were going back to old voting practices after progress in recent years. “This is what I was feeling, and I honestly I was heartbroken,” she told BBC News. “I felt quite devastated.”
