“Queen & Slim” Director Melina Matsoukas Says Golden Globes Voters Refused To Watch The Film, Snubbed For Nods

Melina Matsoukas

“Queen & Slim” Director Melina Matsoukas Says Golden Globes Voters Refused To Watch The Film, Snubbed For Nods

Will 2020 mark a new campaign of #GoldenGlobesSoWhite? Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas hints that it may be the case,  specifically concerning her film. Golden Globe Awards nominations were announced on Monday (12/9/19), but “Queen & Slim” was noticeably snubbed. Snubs happen, but Melina Matsoukas says she’d been warned that none of the voting committee nor members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association attended screenings of her film; meaning they didn’t even watch the film to consider it for voting. Sources claim that an estimate of four members attended a Queen & Slim screening.

Melina Matsoukas commented on what seems like a protest of her film:

“For me, it’s reflective of their voting body. It’s not reflective of the society in which we live in or the industry as it stands today. They don’t value the stories that represent all of us, and those stories are so often disregarded and discredited, as are their filmmakers.”

She added:

“It’s extremely discouraging. It’s extremely infuriating. And it just represents an archaic system that is full of people who don’t value us.”

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association denies that Queen & Slim was overlooked. A representative provided this statement:

“The HFPA maintains that ‘Queen & Slim’ was in the conversation amongst the membership.”

The “Insecure” director/Beyonce-collaborator added that she’d experienced racism/sexism at a fundraising event for the organization earlier this year:

“I was warned by three different people that I may be harassed or spoken to in an inappropriate way, which I was….And they used a very archaic term in [a] pitch, and I found it quite offensive and disrespectful to me as a woman of color.”

Unfortunately, Melina said she doesn’t expect this year’s Academy Awards to do much better than the Golden Globes regarding diversity, considering no female directors were nominated.

“I think there’s an extremely long way to go. I’m always going to be hopeful because that’s who I am, but I don’t have a lot of faith in any institutions in this country because they have always discredited and disregarded work by women and people of color. The fact that five women have ever been nominated for directing in the lifetime of the Academy is infuriating. It’s obviously very imbalanced. Until the body of the people voting on the projects reflects our society and the people making these projects, there will be no change.”

She also sent a message to the HPFA.

“Your time is over. I believe they’ve created an unsafe work environment.”

Queen & Slim, written and produced by Lena Waithe, grossed over $30 million in the United States box office alone, shattering critics’ expectations. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith.

Written by Miata Shanay