Good News: Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z top NAACP Image Award nominations

Good News: Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z top NAACP Image Award nominations

By Susan Johnes 

      Recently, the NAACP Image Awards announced Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z as the leading nominees for five apiece.

The awards show, which is now in its 49th year, honors entertainers and writers of color. The winners will be announced during a two-hour show on Jan. 15 hosted by Anthony Anderson of “blackish”- who is also a nominee for the best TV comedy actor.

What favored Blige’s nominations are songs and videos off her album “Strength of a Woman.” On the other hand, Jay-Z was nominated for his “4:44” album and songs contained on it.

Other celebrities nominated for entertainer of the year category are Bruno Mars, Issa Rae, Chance the Rapper, Chadwick Boseman, and director Ava DuVernay.

Second nominations for the four-piece went to Bruno Mars, Issa Rae, Kendrick Lamar, and SZA all who had a tie.

Netflix and Oprah Winfrey’s network were the leading television nominees. “Get Out,” “Girls Trip,” and “Detroit” are among the nominees for best motion picture.

Idris Elba was nominated for the leading acting role. Together with musician Charlie Wilson and singer Ledesi, they earned three nods each.

On the business side, streaming giant Netflix and cable network OWN led the TV nominations with 23 and 17 nominations, respectively.

RCA Records and Capitol Records led the recording category with 12 and six nominations, respectively.

“The NAACP Image Awards continues to reflect diversity in television, music, film and literature that brings everyone together,” said Derrick Johnson, president, and CEO of NAACP.

Other nominees for some of the critical categories included:- Entertainment of the year which went to Ava DuVernay, Bruno Mars, Chadwick Boseman, Chance the Rapper, Issa Rae and
Jay-Z.

On the comedy series, the nominations went to “Ballers” (HBO), “Blackish” (ABC), “Dear White People” (Netflix), “Insecure” (HBO), and “Sur-vivor’s Remorse” (Starz).

For the actor in a comedy series, nominations went to Anthony Anderson – “blackish” (ABC), Danielle Brooks – “Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix), and Issa Rae – “Insecure” (HBO)

Drama series top nominations went to “Greenleaf” (OWN) and “Power” (Starz). Actors in a drama series top nominees were Kofi Siriboe – “Queen Sugar” (OWN) and Mike Colter – “Marvel’s the Defenders” (Netflix)