Michael Keaton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Steve Carell, Eddie Redmayne, Bradley Cooper, Julianne Moore, Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, Reese Witherspoon, JK Simmons, Ed Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Robert Duvall, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Patricia Arquette, Keira Knightley and Laura Dern are all white. They are the actors and actresses nominated for the individual awards at this year's Oscars.

Michael KeatonMichael Keaton is the favorite to win Best Actor at the Oscars

This, together with the other categories, means this is the worst year for diversity at the Hollywood awards ceremony since 1998 - 17 years ago. As the Huffington Post notes, this is particularly troubling given last year saw Lupita Nyong'o and Steve McQueen winning for 12 Years a Slave.

Though Selma is nominated for Best Picture, it's director Ava DuVernay was curiously absent from the director's category.  

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There are also no female directors, screenwriters or cinematographers this year. 

The nominations come after comedian Chris Rock penned a blistering essay for the Hollywood Reporter on what he called Hollywood's race issue - calling it a "white industry."

"Now, when it comes to casting, Hollywood pretty much decides to cast a black guy or they don't. We're never on the "short list." We're never "in the mix." When there's a hot part in town and the guys are reading for it, that's just what happens," he wrote.

"It was never like, "Is it going to be Ryan Gosling or Chiwetel Ejiofor for Fifty Shades of Grey?" And you know, black people f-, too. White women actually want to f- black guys, sometimes more than white guys. More women want to f- Tyrese than Jamie Dornan, and it's not even close. It's not a contest. Even Jamie would go, "OK, you got it.""

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