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This week 20 acting nominees for the Oscars this year were announced and they were all white, excerpt one person called Cynthia Erivo.

Cynthia Erivo is British-Nigerian actor who made her name on Broadway. She has been nominated for playing slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet.

Erivo has two nominations: one for best lead actress and the other in the best original song category, in the same film.

Her Oscar nominations come a week after she snubbed the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) event because of an all-white line-up of acting nominations.

Erivo cancelled her scheduled performance at the Baftas following the all-white nominations list.

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Erivo has reacted to her Oscars nomination telling the LA Times that “It is bittersweet really and truly because while I worked very hard for what was happening I also would have loved to be able to celebrate with other people of color who worked really hard this year also.

I believe there has been incredible work this year and beautiful pieces that have come out not just by people of color but women directors as well. So I’m hoping that I can represent us well once that celebration happens.”

Oscars So White

This year’s 19 out of 20 nomination list is the highest number since the outcry in 2015 and 2016 known as #OscarsSoWhite.

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If Erivo wins the Oscar this year, that will make her the only the second black person to win in the best actress category, after Halle Berry in 2002.

She has already won the Emmy, Grammy, and a Tony Award, adding the Oscars will make her the youngest person to become a so-called Egot at age 33.

Erivo reacted to the anticipated Egot saying “I have been told that, yes. Which is crazy. But no I didn’t think that it would be at this point [in my career] because I didn’t even know it was possible to do all those things with a Broadway musical. So it’s just wonderful to even have it discussed in this way.”

Source: Africafeeds.com