Jameela Jamil calls for non-binary category at award shows
British actor Jameela Jamil has called for a new category at award shows exclusively for non-binary people so Hollywood doesn’t “completely shut out women.”
On Instagram, Jamil wrote: “Would it not be better to give non-binary people their own category rather than open the door for Hollywood to completely shut out women given the known disproportionate amount of men vs women winning at award shows?”
She continued: “If we now have enough non-binary talent to restructure entire award shows, which is GREAT, then we should add rather than run the accidental risk of erasing, no? I say this as an audience member because I am not going to be nominated for an Oscar anyway. I have no horse in this race.”
The Good Place star explained how her comments were because “the Oscars looking to get rid of gendered acting awards. As we see with the director award which is genderless, it’s rare to even see a woman nominated never mind win.” Jamil added: “I want to open more doors and create more tables, not narrow the opportunities for everyone, including GNC [gender non-conforming] people.”
The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey, who identifies as non-binary, replied to Jamil’s idea: “I feel weird about there being a whole new category. I think it’s more about language. I would love the categories to be ‘Actress/Non-Binary Performer’ and ‘Actor/Non-Binary Performer’ then the performer can be submitted into their preferred category.”
They continued: “It’s not a perfect solution, but that’s my take on it. I think it’s more about making us feel seen and included rather than categorised.”
Jamil later revealed she’s been in conversation with Ramsey over direct message, stating: “We are DMing really lovely messages and just discussing it together as everyone should because we are all in this together.”
The Brit Awards removed gendered categories in 2021 and replaced the two awards with ‘Artist of the Year’. Earlier this year, they faced criticism for not including a single woman or non-binary person on their list of five nominees.
See Jamil’s post below.
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