African-American Film Critics Association - Scandal

Scandal

In 2009, the big winner at the African American Film Critics Association was Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. The adaption won best picture, best director, best screenplay, and best supporting actress. The film’s star, Gabourey Sidibe, did not win best actress in favor of Nicole Beharie from American Violet. After the awards, Roger Friedman of The Hollywood Reporter reported the tally had been manipulated by the group’s president, Gil Robertson IV. Friedman posed that Robertson was to receive a bribe in the form of a donation from the producers affiliated with American Violet.

The issue sparked infighting among the group leading to a splintering. Three founding members of the AAFCA— Shawn Edwards of FOX-TV, Wilson Morales of Blackfilm.com/AOL Blackvoices, and Mike Sargent WBAI-FM/Tor.com— have withdrawn and created a new group, the Black Film Critics Circle. The new group includes five other former AAFCA members and officially debuted in February 2010. In the founding announcement, the Black Film Critics Circle made known that they were going to “maintain the integrity of a true critics organization”. In a statement released December 28, 2009 and signed by fifteen of the group’s members, Robertson denied any accusations related to ballot tampering and wished any group wanting to further black film appreciation the best. The only evidence to the controversy on the AAFCA website is the inclusion that “Effective January 1, 2010, final tabulations for all AAFCA Award categories will be handled by Beverly Hills accountant W. Steven Temple”