Issa Rae Spoke For Everyone Who’s Upset About The Oscars Nominating Only Men For Best Director

Since the category was created in 1927, only five women have ever been nominated for Best Director: Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), and Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird). There was some hope that the 92nd Academy Awards, which air on February 9, would feature not only the first two-time nominee in Gerwig for Little Women, but maybe nominate two female filmmakers in the same year. The options were plentiful: outside of Little Women, there’s Booksmart, The Farewell, Honey Boy, Hustlers, The Souvenir, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, High Life, among others. About that…

The nominees for Best Director went to five dudes, Bong Joon Ho (Parasite), Sam Mendes (1917), Todd Phillips (Joker), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), and Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Not to take away anything from Mendes (1917 is an incredible technical achievement) or Tarantino (who has never won in this category) or Joon Ho (Parasite is one of the best films of 2019, and the entire decade) or Scorsese (The Irishman is the rare two-and-a-half four movie that’s worth every minute), but no Gerwig? Lulu Wang? Lorene Scafaria? Céline Sciamma? Or as Oscar nominations co-presenter Issa Rae accurately put it, “Congratulations to those men.”

That Natalie Portman-esque aside, which the Insecure star said after the nominations were revealed, has caused quite the social media reaction.

To see the full list of Oscar nominees, click here.