THE ACADEMY IS facing some backlash after they instagrammed a congratulatory photo, mixed up the film’s actresses.

The Academy congratulated the film Selma for its nomination in the best picture category, but tagged the photo with the wrong actress below the snap. The actress in the photo is Tessa Thompson, who plays Diane Nash. However, the Academy tagged Caremn Ejogo, who plays Coretta Scott King in the movie about the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march for African American voting rights.

They’ve since corrected the error but not before screenshots were plastered all over social media.

Ejogo plays Martin Luther King’s wife, and is pictured to the right in this photo.

The Academy have already come under a lot of scrutiny after this year’s nominations were announced last Wednesday, as it was the first time since 1998 that all nominated actors were white. The lack of diversity promoted the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to trend during the announcements, and spawned newspaper headlines like this:

Mixing up two black actresses was the last straw for some people. Speaking to E! Online in a recent interview, Carmen Ejogo said, “There are has to be more diversity going forward. I think it keeps the Academy relevant if they keep up to speed in that way”.

Cheryl Boone, the Academy president, said in an interview with the Associated Press after the controversy, that they are “committed to seeking out diversity of voice and opinion”.

In the last two years, we’ve made greater strides than we ever have in the past toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation through admitting new members and more inclusive classes of members. Personally, I would love to see and look forward to see a greater cultural diversity among all our nominees in all of our categories.