5 of the Biggest Snubs in This Year’s Golden Globe Nominations

The holidays may be over but award season is upon us, and while it’s a month later than usual—typically the Golden Globes are held on the first Sunday in January—she is here and she is…full of snubs, for diverse talent in particular. On Wednesday, February 3rd, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the 78th Annual Golden Globe Award nominees for film and television. 

In no surprise, this year’s nominees and celebrated talents are a prime example of the lack of diversity in Hollywood—a formality we were hoping to leave in the dust after the eye-opening year that was 2020. Wishful thinking. Here are some of the snubs everyone is buzzing about.

Zendaya has yet to win, let alone be nominated for a Golden Globe.

Did Zendaya’s Golden Globe nomination get lost in the mail or something? Because we don’t understand. The 24-year-old actress is at the height of her acting career, breaking milestones, and still can’t earn a damn Golden Globe. Even with her newest project Malcolm & Marie in tow, it’s not enough. It says a lot that the HFPA would choose to pass on one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood, who is also of color.

Paul Mescal will have to watch his Normal People co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones from the sidelines this year.

Normal People was one of the most talked about shows in 2020, but Mescal’s performance as Connell will be going unnoticed while his female equivalent, Edgar-Jones, is up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Fans are surprised, especially since Mescal received an Emmy nomination for this same exact role and Edgar-Jones did not.

An even bigger snub? Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You.

I May Destroy You was one of 2020’s most compelling pieces of television and would have been a well-deserved (and easy) choice for several Golden Globe nominations but instead, crickets. Michaela Coel created, wrote, co-directed, executive-produced, and starred in the HBO limited series that showcases the story of a young woman who was drugged and raped. The series earned acclaim from TV critics around the world—except the Golden Globes.

Da 5 Bloods is totally shut out.

Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods was overlooked in more than one category: Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director (Lee), Best Supporting Actor (Chadwick Boseman), and Best Actor (Delroy Lindo).

And Minari nearly was as well.

Steven Yeun played an integral part in the success of Minari, a coming-of-age story about a Korean-American family in the rural south. Yeun and his co-star Yuh-jung Youn were snubbed for Best Actor – Drama and Best Supporting Actress, which could have been a joyous moment for diversity. Although Minari did pick up one nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, it doesn’t feel like enough. 

There are snubs in every award show, every year, but after the year we’ve been through, we were hoping there might be some improvement in the diversity among the nominees. It’s worth nothing that films like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Judas and the Black Messiah, and One Night in Miami are all Black-led films that were expected to bring in nominations, and while they did, it still just didn’t feel like enough. It seems like it should be time for Hollywood to finally do better.