Black Twitter Drags Awkwafina after NAACP Image Awards Nomination

Crazy Rich Asians actress Awkwafina is facing backlash on social media after being nominated for an NAACP Image Award, reported Yahoo! News. Last year, she was facing harsh criticisms about her consistent use of a blaccent. Now, that blaccent has won her a nomination in a ceremony intended to celebrate Black people.

Awkwafina’s nomination is for “Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance” in the Disney animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, reported Yahoo!. Though the NAACP Image Awards is not exclusive to Black people in Hollywood, this nomination upset many people as they believe Awkwafina benefits from mocking Black people.

From Yahoo!:

The actress reacted to the nomination, stating that she was “Extremely honored to be nominated at the @naacp image awards, alongside so many people I love, appreciate and respect.” She added, “Thank you @naacp for all that you do and have done.”

She has yet to address the mounting backlash online over the recent honor, nor has she thoroughly explained her past use of “blaccent.” During an interview via Reuters Showbiz, she said she was “​​open to the conversation.” “I think it, you know, it’s really something that is a little bit multi-faceted and layered, and so yeah,” she added.

That’s a long way of saying “it’s complicated.” Maybe she hoped the whole thing will boil over after a few weeks but she was incredibly mistaken as Black Twitter wasted no time to snatch her up. “Out of all of the awards, I would think the NAACP Image Awards would be the last one to nominate someone like Awkwafina, who thinks it is ok to make a minstrel out of Black people for a living. Yikes,” read one tweet.

Another tweet accused Awkwafina of retreating from her blaccent because she’s taken on bigger projects such as Marvel’s Shang-chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. Almost every other movie or TV show character she’s taken on has donned a blaccent which ultimately resulted in her rise to stardom. However, in a 2017 VICE interview she spoke strongly about how Hollywood writes and casts Asian characters.

From VICE:

I’ve walked out of auditions where the casting director all of a sudden changed her mind and asked for accents. I refuse to do accents. And I think like—so far, like a lot of the parts I’ve gone out for have been really real characters and being Asian is not part of their plotline. I’m OK with having an Asian aspect if it’s done in a genuine way. I’m not OK with someone writing the Asian experience for an Asian character. Like that’s annoying and I make it very clear, I don’t ever go out for auditions where I feel like I’m making a minstrel out of our people.

Well, she surely doesn’t mind making a minstrel out of other people. What’s most concerning is how she was invited into a space safe for Black people while having disrespected them as a means to be successful. “They knew all about her, knew who she was, they know she is not BLACK so why would the NAACP nominate a NON-BLACK that’s a slap in our face,” read another tweet.