We analyzed #Oscarssowhite. There was a spike in conversation about this topic between January 12th – 16th, because the Oscar nominees were announced on January 14th. Many people were using the words Oscars, black, white, Hollywood, diversity, academy, nominations, actors and snub. Most of the conversation around the hashtag were people expressing anger about the all white Oscar nominations and the lack of diversity in Hollywood. Many people were tweeting about how the academy snubbed all of the black actors who were involved in making movies this past year. Most of these tweets came from the United States and Europe, with lower amounts coming from South America, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia. The global nature of the hashtag might explain why the word “blancos” appears as a frequent buzzword in connection to the Oscars because in Spanish the word blanco means white.
Most RT tweet:
Oscar Winning Wardrobes Throughout History https://t.co/WePxfKVvrA #OscarsSoWhite
— Seven24Like (@localtourkey) January 14, 2016
Second most RT tweet:
#OscarsSoWhite black people can't even get nominated for the movies about black people… https://t.co/3ZM9y09R7b
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 14, 2016
Interestingly enough, the most retweeted tweet was a tweet about Oscar fashion throughout history and unrelated to the #Oscarssowhite conversation. A clickbait account hijacked the hashtag to increase engagement with its own content and it worked.
With the 88th Academy Awards premiering last night, conversations about this topic have resurfaced again. The media and other stories regarding the Oscars are breaking headlines this morning, and many have taken to social media to share their opinions. The controversy of their overwhelmingly white nominees has even caused outraged people to boycott. Chris Rock created a lot of much-expected backlash on Twitter from his opening comments during the show Rock used his platform as host of the show to poke fun at and tackle #OscarsSoWhite head on, generating more buzz for the hashtag while also creating relevance for those who have not been considered to be “trend-worthy” in quite some time, such as Stacey Dash, an African American who was notorious for criticizing the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and boycott.
Tatyana Laird, Maya Lobban, Chantal Carter, Imani Wallace