Whoopi Fires Back at ‘Barbie’ Oscar Snub Outrage: “No Trophy for All”

Whoopi Goldberg fires back at the rising tension over the snubbing of the star cast of Barbie in the Oscar nominations. As the social media and Barbie fans ring upon the corruption within the Academy, the EGOT winner fact-checks and corrects film lovers’ attitudes.

The Backlash of Giants

There has been a latent rise in criticism against the academy for its snubbing of the Barbie cast and crew, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig for Best Actress and Best Director, while nominating Ryan Gosling for Best Supporting Actor and America Ferrera for Best Supporting Actress—the Barbie movie with a total of 8 nominations, just behind Oppenheimer with 13 nominations.

The Emmy winner replied to the backlash towards the academy calling it merely ignorant allegations without any substance. The procedure followed by the academy in its selections is rigorous and transparent. Unlike public perceptions, it is not the elites who choose which movie to nominate but rather the entire academy family that votes for each and every category.

She further clarified the academy’s difficulty in giving nominations for big-budget movies, as it could negatively affect low-budget movies since they are not able to express much with their lower budgets. This is a great mentality in the long run; otherwise, the awards would be hogged by the big production houses, leaving independent artists in the dust.

She further stumped film lovers with her inquiry on what effectively constitutes a snub, or rather, when it becomes snubbing. For all we know, except for the five nominations given out each year, all the remaining are effectively snubbed, and there is always a large number of greats that are snubbed.

Read More: Oscars Fail to Nominate: Gerwig and Robbie Shockingly Snubbed Despite Widespread Acclaim and Buzz

She expresses her dissatisfaction with the widespread rumors focusing on these negative shades. Although Goldberg believes Barbie is a phenomenal movie with great money and even greater star value, in the end, it doesn’t define something worthy of a nomination based on these two factors alone.

She revealed that, in actuality, there are no snubs, and nominations are extremely subjective without any sort of link to the box office collections. In reality, most movies get forgotten, and very few are awarded for their excellence. Not all movies that you like might be liked by others too. That is why the academy uses a wide range of panel members from various backgrounds for voting, which is a far better way to identify the best movie than merely looking at the box office collections.

Barbenheimer Dominates 

Barbie and Oppenheimer dominate among Academy Award nominations paralleling their rivalry at the box office. However, unlike at the box office, Oppenheimer stands a tad above Barbie with 13 nominations, against the 8 nominations Barbie was able to secure.
 
Greta Gerwig and her husband Noah Baumbach will have to fight against Christopher Nolan. In the race to win the Best Adapted Screenplay category, most categories will witness a battle between these giants.

Moreover, Barbie being nominated as an adapted screenplay has sparked controversy as it was an entirely original story told from the perspective of the pre-existing dolls. The film crew has decided to campaign against such a decision.

No matter what, as the first woman to helm a billion-dollar box office hit, having Barbie nominated for Best Picture effectively makes her the first woman to have every individual work of hers nominated for Best Picture. Margot Robie will also be in the picture, as she is one of the co-producers of Barbie.