When the 2021 Golden Globes nomination list was released, many people criticized how the nominations had very few people of color. Over seven female acting categories, only three women of color were nominated in total. Only three Black men were nominated in total. 

In addition, many have criticized the nominations for including shows such as Emily In Paris, a light rom-com starring a white woman and a mostly white supporting cast that received mixed critical reception, but not including shows such as I May Destroy You, a critically acclaimed show about a rape survivor which stars a Black woman and has a predominantly Black supporting cast. 

Another source of controversy was the film Minari, which, despite being an American movie with English dialogue, was shut out of the best picture category and put in the foriegn language category. Minari, which follows the story of South Korean immigrants in the United States, has some Korean dialogue, but enough English that many believe it should have been put in the best picture category, and that it wasn’t placed there due to racial bias.

In my opinion, these nominations clearly do show racial bias against people of color. In a year with many critically acclaimed performances from people of color, and many shows and films revolving around people of color and their experiences, such as Michaela Coel in I May Destroy You, it makes little sense that a show such as Emily In Paris would be nominated and other shows wouldn’t. It also makes little sense that only three women of color were nominated between seven categories, all of which have five nominees, and that they were all in the same category.

In the case of Minari, the nomination was a blatant display of racial bias, considering that it was a movie made in America, it was about living in the US, and it had lots of English dialogue, that happened to be about Korean immigrants, so it was placed in the foriegn language film category. Minari actually won best foreign language film, so why it wasn’t nominated for best picture is baffling. All of these cases show a clear sign of racial bias, intentional or not. Not a single one of these cases has a logical explanation for the lack of diversity, other than racial bias.