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Entertainment

The 2016 MTV Movie Awards Nominations Get Diversity Right, Sorta

And the nominees are…

by Ben Barna

It's no surprise that Star Wars: The Force Awakens—aka the most popular movie in American history—leads the just-announced 2016 MTV Movie Awards nominations in 11 categories. The award show, which is way more of a popularity contest than the Oscars and, therefore, favors traditional box-office powers, honored Star Wars with Movie of the Year, Best Female Performance (Daisy Ridley), and obviously, Best Villain (Adam from Girls). Deadpool, the year's biggest surprise hit, came in second with eight nominations, including two for Ryan Reynolds, who picked up nods for Best Male Performance and Best Comedic Performance. 

But the real takeaway from these nominations is that MTV does not have a diversity problem, sorta. John Boyega, Michael B. Jordan, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Kevin Hart all scored nominations, but sadly, the only woman of color who was nominated for anything was Lupita Nyong’o, for Best Virtual Performance for her motion capture work in The Force Awakens. But like with #OscarsSoWhite, this says less about the actual award show and more about a systemic problem in the movie industry itself.  

The 2016 MTV Movie Awards will be hosted by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart on April 10, and you can check out the rest of the nominations below. 

Movie of the Year

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Creed

Deadpool

Jurassic World

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Straight Outta Compton

True Story

Concussion

Joy

Steve Jobs

Straight Outta Compton

The Big Short

The Revenant

Documentary

Amy

Cartel Land

He Named Me Malala

The Hunting Ground

The Wolfpack

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Best Female Performance

-Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

-Anna Kendrick, Pitch Perfect 2

-Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

-Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

-Morena Baccarin, Deadpool

Best Male Performance

-Chris Pratt, Jurassic World

-Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

-Matt Damon, The Martian

-Michael B. Jordan, Creed

-Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

-Will Smith, Concussion

Breakthrough Performance

-Amy Schumer, Trainwreck

-Brie Larson, Room

-Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Dakota Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey

-John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-O’Shea Jackson Jr., Straight Outta Compton

Best Comedic Performance

-Amy Schumer, Trainwreck

-Kevin Hart, Ride Along 2

-Melissa McCarthy, Spy

-Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect 2

-Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

-Will Ferrell, Get Hard

Best Action Performance

-Chris Pratt, Jurassic World

-Dwayne Johnson, San Andreas

-Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2

-John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

-Vin Diesel, Furious 7

Best Hero

-Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

-Chris Evans, Avengers: Age of Ultron

-Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Dwayne Johnson, San Andreas

-Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2

-Paul Rudd, Ant-Man

Best Villain

-Adam Driver, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Ed Skrein, Deadpool

-Hugh Keays-Byrne, Mad Max: Fury Road

-James Spader, Avengers: Age of Ultron

-Samuel L. Jackson, Kingsman: The Secret Service

-Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Best Virtual Performance

-Amy Poehler, Inside Out

-Andy Serkis, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Jack Black, Kung Fu Panda 3

-James Spader, Avengers: Age of Ultron

-Lupita Nyong’o, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Seth MacFarlane, Ted 2

Ensemble Cast

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Furious 7

Pitch Perfect 2

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2

Trainwreck

Best Kiss

-Amy Schumer & Bill Hader, Trainwreck

-Dakota Johnson & Jamie Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey

-Leslie Mann & Chris Hemsworth, Vacation

-Margot Robbie & Will Smith, Focus

-Morena Baccarin & Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

-Rebel Wilson & Adam DeVine, Pitch Perfect 2

Best Fight

-Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) vs. Ajax (Ed Skrein), Deadpool

-Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) vs. The Bear, The Revenant

-Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) vs. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), Mad Max: Fury Road

-Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) vs. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Avengers: Age of Ultron

-Rey (Daisy Ridley) vs. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Star Wars: The Force Awakens

-Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) vs. Lia (Nargis Fakhri), Spy