You would think that having a lead role in a movie that is nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director would be enough to earn you an invitation to the Academy Awards ceremony, but it seems that West Side Story's Rachel Zegler won’t be attending the star-studded event after not getting asked. Even though Zegler did not manage to secure a Best Actress nomination for her role as Maria in the movie, it seems like a bit of a snub to not get an invitation to help celebrate any wins the movie may pick up on the night.
After sharing an image of herself on Instagram, one fan commented that they couldn’t wait to see what the star would be wearing to the Oscars ceremony, to which she replied that she hadn’t been invited so would just be “in sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel.” In a later comment, she elaborated on the matter, expressing her disappointment but adding that she will be watching and hoping for good things for the movie. She wrote:
“idk y’all I have tried it all but it doesn’t seem to be happening:’) I will root for west side story from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did 3 years ago. I hope some last minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person but hey, that’s how it goes sometimes, I guess. Thanks for all the shock and outrage – I’m disappointed, too. But that’s okay. So proud of our movie.”
The Academy Awards Have Come Under Fire For A Number Of Decisions This Year
While no Oscars event goes without controversy these days, it is usually the results of the night that get some people up in arms and not the events leading up to the ceremony. This year however, the decision to not invite the leading actress of one of the year’s most-nominated movies is just the latest in a long line of choices made by the Academy that have been seen by many as questionable at best.
Having almost entirely ignored the most popular and biggest earning movies of the year, including No Time to Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home among others, the Academy seemed to try and appease moviegoers by introducing a Fan Favorite category to be voted for by fans online, but rather than celebrating the best, for a while the voting favored Prime Video’s critically mauled Cinderella and Zack Snyder’s Netflix movie Army of the Dead as fans attempted to get the director recognition for his version of Justice League by proxy.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Academy faced backlash after agreeing to now broadcast all of the awards live on the night, which met calls for a boycott and general condemnation by some of the biggest names in Hollywood. In comparison to all of this, Zegler’s invite snub seems like just a speck on a very large canvas of issues that have plagued the event this year, and more than ever before led to people questioning just how relevant the Oscars are anymore.