A Matthew Belloni insider piece claims the Academy is investigating whether the Best Actress grassroots campaign for Andrea Riseborough violated any rules.
Supposedly, there’s an anti-lobbying rule to Oscar campaigning and the Riseborough grassroots movement might have broken that rule, although I doubt anything will come from this, but it might however bring about some rule changes in the foreseeable future.
I’m told the Academy is looking at this issue, and that it will likely be raised at the board of governors meeting on Tuesday.
The shock nom has created a brewing shitstorm within the Academy because Riseborough seemingly pushed out Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till), two actresses of color that were backed by well-funded campaigns […] yet presumably do not have access to a network of powerful (and, let’s be honest, white) friends in the Academy to campaign for Oscars on their behalf.
The Academy might try to put down the hammer on this kind of campaigning. Just one nominee doing it isn’t that big of a big deal, but if several start doing this next year then it could really become a problem.
Supposedly, actress Frances Fisher might have crossed a line by implying on social media, by name, that other nominees such as Deadwyler and Davis were locks and it was a waste to put them as #1 on ballots. If she had left the other candidates' names out of it then there'd probably be less of an issue.
Fisher going out there and claiming that two black actresses are "safe" might have been problematic optically, not legally. Her academy membership might be rescinded to send a message.
I highly doubt anything will come from this. Nobody is going to rescind Riseborough's nom. Maybe they’ll go after Fisher, but that’s it. The Academy might take a look at their own campaign rules, but it’s likely too little too late.