CHEER & RUPAUL’S DRAGE RACE LEAD NOMINATIONS FOR CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS: Netflix‘s Cheer and VH1‘s RuPaul’s Drag Race lead nominations for the 2nd annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards which recognize excellence in nonfiction, unscripted and reality programming across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. The winners will be announced June 29th. Jeff Probst has been pegged as the winner of the Critics Choice Real TV Impact Award, for his ongoing contributions to the unscripted television industry as host of Survivor. “Our nominees for the 2020 Critics Choice Real TV Awards reflect the broad range of dynamic unscripted content available on all television platforms,” said CCA TV Branch President Ed Martin. “We are once again honored to bring much deserved attention to the best of reality TV — a genre that continues to entertain and educate us all.”
NIECY NASH TALKS LIFE: As production remains on pause during the pandemic, Niecy Nash tells The Hollywood Reporter that she is trying to adjust to the new normal. The Mrs. America star said she’s focusing on social justice: “I don't know what else the people without the power can say or do. How many people can you poll, who can say, it's not fair. How many people can you poll that can say, it's not right. You know what I mean? How many times can you look at my contract versus a contract that Kyra Sedgwick has. And we worked for the same people. And we were both number one on the call sheet. Do you think hers look like mine? And then the question becomes, Why? We're in a pandemic. I got to go back and get my stuff from New Orleans. Would they have forced a white lead of a series to go do that? I don't know, but it isn't for me to say. It's for them to say.”
ROBIN THEDE CALLS FOR MORE BLACK STORIES: Robin Thede, HBO‘s creator A Black Lady Sketch Show, is supporting the widespread call for systemic change. In a virtual session at the ATX TV Festival, she said: “It's about opening people's eyes the way the women's movement did, the way the gay rights movement did. Change only happens through revolution. I'm invigorated.” She called for more black actors, writers, directors and crew members, and the greenlighting of “more modern black stories.”
HOLLYOAKS PRODUCER LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION: Lime Pictures is looking into claims made by actress Rachel Adedeji, who raised questions about the treatment of black cast members on the set of the UK soap Hollyoaks. She claimed that a make-up artists said “you’re all the same” to her and that a senior production member referred to black cast members as “blackies.”
