--- description: Issa Rae's 2020 Oscars congratulations to those men reaction becomes immediate online flash point. title: Issa Rae Saying 'Congratulations to Those Men' Sums Up Plenty of Feelings About the All-Male Best Director Oscar Nominations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1eeef72422b244b/698a08bc457a5280b7d6366f/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-director.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Issa Rae Saying 'Congratulations to Those Men' Sums Up Plenty of Feelings About the All-Male Best Director Oscar Nominations by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 13, 2020 3:44 PM CUT  Issa Rae attends the 2019 Soul Train Awards at the Orleans Arena on November 17, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Issa Rae attends the 2019 Soul Train Awards at the Orleans Arena on November 17, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Getty Images—2019 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 13, 2020 3:44 PM CUT Women were once again shut out of the Best Director category during the [nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards](https://time.com/5763091/2020-oscar-nominations/ "undefined") — and Issa Rae, who presented the list of nominees on Monday morning, appeared to make her feelings known about the snub. “Congratulations to those men,” the _Insecure_ actor said in an apparent sarcastic tone after reading out the Best Director nominations. The 2020 nominees were Martin Scorsese (_The Irishman_), Todd Phillips (_Joker)_, Sam Mendes (_1917_), Quentin Tarantino (_Once Upon a Time in Hollywood_) and Bong Joon-Ho (_Parasite_). While the all-male domination of the category might suggest to some that female directors did not have as many creative opportunities, women helmed several highly-acclaimed films over the last year, between Lulu Wang’s _The Farewell_, Marielle Heller’s _A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood_, Lorene Scafaria’s _Hustlers_ and Greta Gerwig’s _Little Women_. Of course, Issa Rae’s line quickly became an online flash point on Twitter. Some watching the nominations host’s sentiments summed up their feelings as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science snubbing women in the directing category yet again. This announcement follows the news that the 2020 Golden Globes also shut out female directors, which similarly drew its fair share of conversation from criticism to support for female directors. > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/1216716520048467973) One user even invoked a _Little Women_ meme. > [](https://twitter.com/kimbermyers/status/1216716683160760320) > [](https://twitter.com/treymangum/status/1216719462658912260) > [](https://twitter.com/Laurie%5FOchoa/status/1216735929169170433) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5763729/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-2020/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5763729/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-2020/"},"headline":"Issa Rae Saying 'Congratulations to Those Men' Sums Up Plenty of Feelings About the All-Male Best Director Oscar Nominations","datePublished":"2020-01-13T15:44:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:12.178Z","description":"Issa Rae's 2020 Oscars congratulations to those men reaction becomes immediate online flash point.","url":"https://time.com/5763729/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-2020/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1eeef72422b244b/698a08bc457a5280b7d6366f/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1eeef72422b244b/698a08bc457a5280b7d6366f/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2019 Soul Train Awards - Arrivals","caption":"Issa Rae","creditText":"Getty Images—2019 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5763729/issa-rae-oscar-nominations-2020/","name":"Issa Rae Saying 'Congratulations to Those Men' Sums Up Plenty of Feelings About the All-Male Best Director Oscar Nominations"}}]}] ```