Oscar Nominations 2021: The Snubs And Surprises

The biggest surprise in the acting races is an incredibly deserving one. LaKeith Stanfield, who has not been nominated at a single one of the major award shows this year, managed to slip into the Best Supporting Actor category opposite his nominated co-star Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah.

Judas massively exceeded expectations, gaining six bids including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. It's a powerful film about an FBI informant (Stanfield) infiltrating Fred Hampton's (Kaluuya) Black Panther party. Its praise is well earned but although those bids weren't outside the realm of possibility, there seemed to be no room for Stanfield at the table for his mercurial and deceptive turn. Thankfully, the Academy has proven that wrong.

Yes, it's weird that the two leads of the film are both nominated in supporting, category fraud has always been a present thing at the Oscars. Every cast member of Trial of the Chicago 7 went supporting but only Sacha Baron Cohen managed to score a nomination. Regardless of the fact that both Stanfield and Kaluuya really should be in lead, the fact is they deserve their nominations and are equally as good as each other. The groundswell of support for Judas is clearer than ever and Stanfield has benefitted from it.