I understand where the Academy is coming from, but this is very wrong. The Oscars are looking into stripping Andrea Riseborough of her Best Supporting Actress Nomination for her To Leslie performance as a nepotistic, last-minute social media pushed her through the vote.
Like I said in the beginning, I understand the reasoning behind the Academy’s decision to investigate Riseborough and her nomination.
Not only did Riseborough star in such an irrelevant, miniscule, forgettable movie (To Leslie only grossed 28k from the box office), but her name for the Best Supporting Actress nomination was only put forth from a Hollywood celebrity-backed (i.e.: Edward Norton, Gwenyth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Kate Winslet, etc. led the charge) grassroots effort to influence the Academy voters.
This whole situation is really reeking of celebrity nepotism and corruption of the Academy voting process as they have influenced the voters through offering private screenings of To Leslie at their own multi-million properties, massive social media promotion through their accounts followed by millions of people, and undoubtedly influencing the voters to vote for Riseborough in exchange of “rubbing elbows” with them.
It just is way too cliquey and nepotistic for my liking…and seemingly everyone else in the world.
There was huge backlash against the Riseborough nomination for most of the reasons I listed in my article about the Oscar nominations. Namely, no one saw the movie, no one really cares about the movie, the movie had an extremely limited release, the movie had no cultural relevance or impact to earn any nominations, and there were more deserving actresses in more impactful movies this year.
However, through the powers of Hollywood’s A-list celebrity class, Riseborough was given a completely unexpected Academy Award nomination for a little-seen, soon-to-be-forgotten movie, despite the fact that neither she nor To Leslie were nominated for any other major award body this awards season.
But that still doesn’t mean the Academy should just strip her of the nomination.
Whether any of us likes it or not, Riseborough was fairly (as in no one fabricated or fudged a vote) voted by the Academy and finished as a finalist for the Best Supporting Actress award. I hope she doesn’t win the award as that would just be unfair to the other actresses who had culturally impactful performances, but taking her nomination away would unjustly punish Riseborough for absolutely nothing.
As far as I aware, Riseborough had no part in the celebrity grassroots campaign, and is not accused of breaking any of the Academy’s nomination rules as of this moment. If anyone should be punished with a ban/suspension/fine, it should be the actors and actresses behind the grassroots campaign misusing their platforms and influence to get Riseborough nominated over more deserving candidates.
So, hopefully the Academy finally comes catches up with the times and updates its archaic nomination campaign rules to combat “Oscar Bait” movies, performances, and nomination campaigns in the future.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Image Source: Rotten Tomatoes Indie/Production Company: Momentum Pictures) (To Leslie Trailer #1 (2022) – YouTube)
