Will Woke Oscars Go Gender Neutral Next?

Legendary Oscars host Billy Crystal made watching the Academy Awards fun.

Now? The ceremony teems with woke platitudes, political speeches and monologues disguised as DNC talking points. Plus, films vying for Best Picture honors must check diversity boxes to be eligible for the Academy's biggest honor.

The most recent ceremony let up on that messaging, but rest assured future events will double down on the trend. Why? The next gala will be held at the height of the presidential primaries.

The woke Oscars haven't completed abandoned both history and gender traditions. Each year five actors and five actresses vie for the golden statuettes. Other awards shows, however, have ditched those traditional categories for gender-neutral replacements.

To date, the MTV Movie & TV Awards, the Berlin Film Festival, the Gotham Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards have all switched to “gender neutral” award categories. 

No more Best Actor or Best Actress. It’s Best Performer and the winner could be male, female, non binary or trans.

Oscars Could Soon Follow Suit

The Oscars haven't joined the progressive cascade, at least not yet. But a former Oscar nominee just weighed in in the matter, and this particular voice is louder than most.

Elliot Page, the "Juno" star who transitioned to become a man, told Entertainment Weekly it's time for the Oscars to go gender neutral like other awards shows.

“Yeah, it seems like a good idea... and, again, this sort of unusual aspect of that being the only category, right, where that sort of happens? So, hopefully, we start moving beyond that degree of binary thinking.”

Page earned a Best Actress nomination for "Juno," a role that made the actor a star.

Other Hollywood stars similarly want the Oscars to dramatically change its rules after nearly a decade of on-screen honors. "Sopranos" alum Michael Imperioli, "The White Lotus'" Will Sharpe, "X-Men" star Hugh Jackman and Emma Corrin of "The Crown" also support the move.

A few, like Jamie Lee Curtis, worried the potential change could lead to more inequities, like the Best Performer category could be filled with male nominees. That's what happened with the 2022 Brit Awards for music, the country's Grammy equivalent.

All the nominees that year ended up being men.

Actors who adamantly disagree with gender neutral honors are likely afraid to say so. Betraying the woke sentiment du jour can have consequences within the industry. The biggest stars in the Hollywood galaxy genuflect to the woke bylaws.

The Academy Awards could soon hand Oscars out in a gender neutral way. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images).

Both Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry retreated after initially accepting films where they would play trans characters. Each served up hostage-like apologies saying they wouldn't make the same "mistake" again.

Academy Awards Are Slated For Winter

The industry veterans who complained about the new diversity rules did so anonymously.

It's why Richard Dreyfuss risked plenty when he spoke out against the Oscars' aforementioned diversity rules earlier this year.

The "Jaws" star said the mandates made him sick.

The Oscars will continue to hand out Best Actor AND Best Actress statues... at least for now. The academy's diversity measures took several years to become official. The organization moves slowly, for the most part.

There's still plenty of time between now and the next Oscars ceremony, scheduled for March 10 - assuming the ongoing Hollywood strikes don't delay the gala.

Should more stars speak out in favor of gender neutral awards, that momentum could coax the body to change film history and go with the progressive flow.