With award season getting ready to pop off, I always find it hard to know which award shows I need to pay attention to. These days, the variety of such award shows makes my tiny brain hurt. There’s just so much to choose from. I mean, do I watch The Golden Globes? Sure. The Academy Awards? You bet. The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards? You bet your sweet ass!
As I was trolling the internets this morning, I ran across the NAACP Image Awards nominee list. Skimming the list, all the usual suspects seemed to be in order. Jay-Z? Check. Kanye and Usher? Double check. Denzel Washington? I mean, seriously. Can you have an awards show without Denzel? Triple check! But as I neared the end of the list, one name snuck up on me. Out of nowhere, like a ninja, this name kind of surprised me. So much so, I popped in C&C Music Factory’s Gonna Make You Sweat album, skipped to track 3, and proceeded to jam out to “Things That Make You Go Hmm”.
“I was at the crib, sitting by the fireplace. Drinking cocoa on the bear skin rug.”
Damn! That song is so catchy.
Anyway, where was I? Oh! The name on the list.
And the nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture are:
Don Cheadle for Brooklyn’s Finest
Samuel L. Jackson for Mother and Child
Justin Timberlake for The Social Network
Michael Ealy for….
Wait. Hold up. Let’s back this train up for a minute.
Justin Timberlake? Really? The same Justin Timberlake that was in the boy band *NSYNC? The same kiddo that was on The Mickey Mouse Club? Yep. That one. And he was nominated for The Social Network? Really? Yessir!
This got my brain chugging along like Snooki in a vodka drinking contest. This was a nomination from the NAACP Image Awards. The same award show that recognizes “accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature, and flim”, right? As fabulous as Justin Timberlake is, would we really call him a man of color? I mean, the boy does have some moves and can beatbox something swell, but does that really qualify him for a NAACP Image Award nomination? A nomination for his role in The Social Network, a film that had exactly ZERO African-American actors appearing in a leading or supporting role?
Shenanigans I tell you. Shenanigans.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not bashing on Justin Timberlake here. I actually rather like him. I think he is super talented in a lot of different ways, not to mention so very dreamy. And to be brutally honest, I haven’t even seen The Social Network yet. But I am willing to bet there was at least one or two or three deserving men of color actors out there that they could have given that nomination to. I mean, what has Alfonso Ribeiro done lately?
But really, who cares what I think about it? I’m the same guy that still has C&C Music Factory on his iPod. Don’t you judge me. So here’s to you Justin Timberlake. I salute you and your nomination. Stand up and be proud. And for fuck’s sake, stay the hell away from Tyler Perry.
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About TJ Johnson
