There is a complete lack of diversity amongst this year's Academy Awards nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress. I am not talking about the dearth of African Americans (or in the case of Idris Elba, African Brits), or Hispanics or Asians. I am referring to brunettes! Brunettes from all races make up the vast majority of the world's population and every one of the five nominated actresses is a blonde. Veteran Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence are both blonde, as are the 21-year-old Saoirse Ronan and the 70-year-old Charlotte Rampling. Frontrunner Brie Larson is also blonde. (And that uber blonde uber Oscar winning Meryl Streep isn't even a factor this year!)
And on the gentlemen front, we are dealing with blonde shoo-in Leonardo DiCaprio and blonde Matt Damon and three redheads: Eddie Redmayne whose mane is as scarlet as his name, and gingers Michael Fassbender and Bryan Cranston.
Not a single brunette in the bunch.
Last year, three out of four acting wins went to redheads, those "sensitive to pain" people who only constitute 1-2 percent of the world's population. Those winners were Redmayne, the flame haired (everywhere) Julianne Moore, and J.K. Simmons, who while bald now, clearly was Titian haired. The fourth winner was blonde Patricia Arquette. Where were the brunettes? And the BAFTA's were even worse. They not only picked those same four, but offered an award for best newcomer to another redhead, Jack O'Connell.
Just a few years ago, brunettes made up 50 percent of the Oscar winners. 2013's winners were blondes Jennifer Lawrence and Christoph Waltz and brunettes Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway. We have to go all the way back to 2008 to find a year when brunettes dominated: dark haired Marion Cotillard, Day-Lewis again, and Javier Bardem versus blonde redhead Tilda Swinton. In 2007, brunettes again prevailed (as they should) with Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson and Alan Arkin outnumbering fair-haired Dame Helen Mirren.
Why have brunettes been rejected by Academy voters in recent years? Why isn't George Clooney speaking out on behalf of his cohorts? Do we need to establish a brunettes only Oscars?