Oscars: Host Neil Patrick Harris Jokes About “So White” Nominees

Don’t be surprised if Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris makes a few jokes about the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees when he hosts the Academy Awards later this month.

The emcee indicated such quips were at the front of his mind in a tweet with a photo from Monday’s Oscar Nominees Luncheon.

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Harris, who was on hand for the annual event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, took a selfie in front of this year’s nominees, gathered for their traditional group photo. In the picture Harris tweeted, the lighting has washed out the faces of all of the nominees.

The actor captioned the image “They all look so white! #toosoon”

The 20 acting nominations this year went to a group made up entirely of white actors and actresses, only the second time in nearly two decades that has happened, with the last instance occurring in 2011. The two writing categories were dominated by white men, with no women nominated for best original or adapted screenplay, and the best director category consisted solely of men, with Birdman‘s Mexican helmer Alejandro G. Inarritu the only non-white contender.

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Oscars: Academy President Addresses Controversy Over All-White Acting Nominees

The lack of diversity has been a popular topic on Twitter, with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trending on the day nominations were announced, and in Hollywood, with George Lucas and Spike Lee among those who have weighed in on this year’s whitewashed group.

Motion Picture Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs also addressed the controversy the day after the nominations were announced, telling the Associated Press that while she’s proud of this year’s contenders, the homogeneity of the nominees inspires her to push for more diversity within the Academy.

Harris wasn’t the only one at Monday’s luncheon to tackle one of this year’s Oscar controversies. Bradley Cooper weighed in on the heated debate that his nominated film, American Sniper, is generating, saying, “Any discussion that sort of sheds light on the plight of the soldiers and the men and women in the armed services, for that discussion to occur is fantastic.”