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The BBC’s role in amplifying identity politics continues as they broke the news that the Bafta acting nominations are ‘too white’. By ‘broke the news’, it’s more accurate to say they fuelled the fire. As their own report details, Radio 4 simply told the Bafta CEO what the facts are:
‘Told on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the acting list “seems very white”, Bafta CEO Berry replied: “I’m going to totally agree with you. That’s how I felt when I first saw the list.’
The BBC’s professed neutrality often comes under guise of ‘stats are stats, there’s nothing more to see here but injustice’. Their gatekeeper aura deters serious critical engagement by making you seem rather silly for questioning something which is surely self-evident on its own merit: who can argue against more people of colour, more women, more gays, and more disabled people on screen, after all?
Of course, it’s rarely that simple. There is a considerable overlap between those who agree to the premise above and those who, for example, think that only gay actors should be cast as gay characters. In other words, when it comes to identity politics, whatever your position, it’s almost impossible to debate issues in isolation without spill over, without contagion. But let’s try.
Black actors have been nominated and they’ve won many times in the past couple of decades. I’ll let you Wikipedia away in your own time, but it was only 2013 when 12 Years a Slave scooped best film and its lead, Chiwetel Ejiofor, won best…
