Yesterday, the news of the disqualification of Genevieve Nnaji’s film Lionheart from the Oscars broke the internet.
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In an email sent to voters on Monday, the Academy announced that “Lionheart” was ineligible because of its excessive use of the English language which violates the Academy’s rule for entries into the Best International Feature category.
While some see this as another instance of Nigerians trying to bypass existing rules, others see it as another case of racial discrimination.
Below are some reactions to the news:
So, the Oscars will be what gets our ‘big’ films to use local languages more?
What can’t God do?
— Chris Ihidero (@Chrisihidero) November 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/ehte_/status/1191622513329131520?s=20
So if Lionheart had been produced and scripted in the Igbo and Hausa language that the storyline was based on, but given English subtitles, would it have qualified for the Oscar in the category of Best International Feature Film? 🤔🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♀️
— ✨👑 DaddyMO👑✨🏁 (@therealdaddymo1) November 5, 2019
To think that some Nigerians actually complained that Lionheart had too much igbo! Only for the oscars to think it has too much English??
Total BS! Honestly I don’t even care for the oscars at this point! They might aswell change the name back to “Foreign language”
— Steven Chuks (@SteveChuks_) November 5, 2019
I like Genevieve a lot but Lionheart is a 👎
Even the Academy were expecting Nigeria's entry to be King Of Boys but Nigerian committee once again showed the world that corruption is a culture in Nigeria
"House wey we use saliva do hin foundation, na dew go destroy am" pic.twitter.com/8VEu25tIjQ
— Big Uncle (@Usmanashafe) November 5, 2019
Imagine Oscars disqualified Lionheart movie cause they spoke English language through out the movie..
I remember being flogged in school for speaking my dialect instead of english😭How do i collect my school fees back please?🤦🏽
— E L O N E L (@iam_elonel) November 5, 2019
Lionheart is a very solid debut for Genevieve & was Nigeria’s first ever entry to the Oscars. It showcased Nigerian culture & is quintessentially Nigerian but to deem it not culturally-specific enough because it’s in English blatantly ignores our complex history of colonialism.
— ✨👑 DaddyMO👑✨🏁 (@therealdaddymo1) November 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/Cutewalterr/status/1191597286217977856?s=20
Since a decade ago, Oscar stopped movies in that category made predominantly in English language just like LionHeart.
An Israeli movie "The Band" was disqualified in 2007 for the same reason.
Y'all slow down on the "African discrimination" talk on this issue.
Rules are rules.
— UG (@UgwunnaEjikem) November 5, 2019
Although the debate about language criteria for Oscars is long overdue, LionHeart never stood any of being selected at all. It’s a laudable effort, and personally I love its humanizing of northerners, but this attempt to project it as an Oscar-worthy production is overstretching.
— Gimba Kakanda (@gimbakakanda) November 5, 2019
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