I realize that it was just a joke, but Chris Rock implied that there have been 71 Oscar ceremonies with no Black acting nominees. For the record, the actual number is 51. Of the 88 ceremonies, 37 of them have included Black acting nominees, and Sidney Poitier has only been nominated twice (he won both times).
Black performers were nominated in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress in the following 37 Academy Awards ceremonies:
12th: Hattie McDaniel 22nd: Ethel Waters 27th: Dorothy Dandridge 31st: Sidney Poitier 32nd: Juanita Moore 36th: Sidney Poitier 40th: Beah Richards 42nd: Rupert Crosse 43rd: James Earl Jones 45th: Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield 47th: Diahann Carroll 54th: Howard E. Rollins 55th: Louis Gossett, Jr. 56th: Alfre Woodard 57th: Adolph Caesar 58th: Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey 59th: Dexter Gordon 60th: Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington 62nd: Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington 63rd: Whoopi Goldberg 65th: Denzel Washington, Jaye Davidson 66th: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne 67th: Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson 69th: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Marianne Jean-Baptiste 72nd: Denzel Washington, Michael Clarke Duncan 74th: Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Will Smith 75th: Queen Latifah 76th: Djimon Hounsou 77th: Jaimie Foxx (two categories), Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman, Sophie Okonedo 78th: Terrence Howard 79th: Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson 80th: Ruby Dee 81st: Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson 82nd: Gabourey Sibide, Mo'Nique 84th: Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer 85th: Denzel Washington, Quvenshane Wallis 86th: Barkhad Abdi, Lupita Nyong'o, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Also, at the 20th Academy Awards, James Baskett was recognized with an honorary Oscar for his performance in Song of the South.
With six nominations, Denzel Washington appears most frequently on this list.
You're right! Good catch. This does seem to underscore the bizarre nature of Chris Rock's comment about the Academy failing to nominate Blacks unless Sidney Poitier made a movie that year.
thats probably down to sidney poitiers legend among blacks. he was the 1st black person to win for a leading role. hattie came before, but in a supporting role, and as a stereotype generally viewed negatively by blacks.
This is such a joke. If the best performances were by white actors and actresses, then they should be nominated. Are we now supposed to nominate people just because of their race? Why don't we do this with Football and Basketball? Definitely not enough diversity there. Let's pretend that it's not because the white people are not as good of athletes and make it a petty race thing like this Oscar fiasco.