Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku said she’s found it “difficult” to celebrate the personal achievement of receiving a first-time Oscar nomination for her work while the United States is experiencing ongoing crises as a result of ICE killings and crackdowns.
Speaking to The Times U.K., the Nigeria-born Brit recalled initially missing the news due to mixing up the schedule for the early announcement. “I heard my husband on the phone and asked him why he was up,” she said, laughing. “He said, ‘Baby, you just got nominated for an Oscar.’ I said, ‘No, the announcement’s at 8:30 a.m.”
Of her Best Supporting Actress nod for portraying healer and spiritual leader Annie, the Lovecraft Country alumna said, “I’ve not been able to celebrate because of what’s going on right now, with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minnesota and the kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy. It’s difficult to hold both the nomination and the news because one feels beautiful and one is so dark and heavy; truly dystopian — how can I possibly go out and buy some drinks and enjoy the moment?”
She added that her U.S.-born partner is “not as shocked as I am at the news. There’s a very strange American psyche where terrible things happen and people still can go to work the next day, whereas I’m floored for a week and think, ‘How are people going to crowded places when this has just happened?’ I want a cocoon. My reaction reminds him that this is not normal.”
ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in late January, not even three weeks following the fatal shooting of Renee Good Jan. 7, which took place a mile away. President Donald Trump‘s administration said it would not be investigating Good’s manner of death, though prosecutors had already begun doing so; the FBI and Customs and Border Protection are currently looking into Pretti’s death and promised to release body cam footage of the violent incident. Meanwhile, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father have since been released from custody.
Alongside Mosaku’s nomination, Sinners is also up for a record-breaking additional 15 nods, including in coveted categories Picture, Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Screenplay and Director (both for Ryan Coogler).