Academy Member’s NSFW Response to Anime Has Fans Fuming

Earlier this week, fans were met with a pretty unpleasant surprise, when an array of last year’s anime films were snubbed from the 2018 Oscars. And it looks like a recently-resurfaced statement from one of the awards’ voters is rubbing salt in the wound.

Twitter user @MilesExpress999 recently tweeted about the Best Animated Feature nominations, which included The Boss Baby while leaving out anime films like In this Corner of the World, A Silent Voice, and Mary and The Witch’s Flower. In the tweet, they cited a 2015 quote from an Academy member, which seemed to speak very negatively about anime as a genre.

The “Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot” column was published by The Hollywood Reporter, and gave readers a look at how different anonymous members of the Academy made their decisions. This particular voter, when asked about 2015’s Best Animated Feature nominees, said the following:

“When a movie is that successful and culturally hits all the right chords and does that kind of box-office,” the voter writes, “for that movie not to be in over these two obscure freakin’ Chinese f*ckin’ things that nobody ever freakin’ saw [an apparent reference to the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, as well as the Irish film Song of the Sea]? That is my biggest bitch. Most people didn’t even know what they were! How does that happen? That, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.”

For those who were rooting for the past year’s anime films that were up for consideration – or who are utterly confused by The Boss Baby‘s nomination – this comment probably isn’t the most optimistic thing. And while there’s no telling if that particular anonymous voter is still a member of the Academy, it does contribute to anime fans’ current frustation.

Fans are understandably frustrated by the Academy’s latest slight, but the community is used to being overlooked by the awarding body. While Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away did take home the category’s top prize years ago, no other flick has won over the Academy since.

The heralded event isn’t one to value quality anime titles over the politics of Hollywood’s award ceremonies, and the fandom wishes they were surprised by the Oscars’ latest dig at the medium.