Okay, Seriously, What The Hell Is Going On With The Invite List For 2022 Oscars?

Over the weekend, West Side Story star Rachel Zegler revealed that she has not been invited to the 94th Annual Academy Awards despite the film being nominated for Best Picture. It’s a pretty significant snub by the Academy, which Zegler attempted to remedy with no luck before letting her fans know on Instagram why she won’t be at the Oscars. Considering the amount of attention Zegler’s situation received, you’d assume the Academy would make things right. Not so much. Instead, it’s announced a new list of recently-added presenters, which notably does not include Zegler.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

H.E.R., who earned the Oscar for best original song for last year’s Judas and the Black Messiah, will join previous nominees Bill Murray and Elliot Page as presenters. Stephanie Beatriz, Jennifer Garner, DJ Khaled, Tiffany Haddish, Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White are among the all-star lineup added to the show. It was previously announced that Academy Award winners Ruth E. Carter, Kevin Costner, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Rami Malek, Lupita Nyong’o and Yuh-Jung Youn will also return to the Oscars stage to present awards.

Naturally, this news did not go over well on social media, where folks are understandably frustrated and confused as to why the star of a film nominated for Best Picture still hasn’t been invited to the Oscars. It also doesn’t help the situation that random celebrities like snowboarder Shaun White, skateboarder Tony Hawk, and DJ Khaled scored invites despite not even being actors, unless you count Tony Hawk’s appearance as “Skateboarder” in the classic 1984 film Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol.

You can see some of the reactions below. It’s a whole thing now.

— Marie Bardi (@mariebardi) March 20, 2022

dj khaled presenting at the oscars…but not rachel zegler… pic.twitter.com/YGS1whudQ7

— paul (@paulswhtn) March 21, 2022

For those trying to understand why this is so concerning:

Previous Best Picture Oscar musical nominees La La Land, Les Misérables, Chicago had leads who were all invited to the #Oscars

For Rachel Zegler, a rising Hollywood actress, to be snubbed is a disgrace. #AcademyAwards https://t.co/UWGlNk38Hy

— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) March 20, 2022