NETFLIX LEADS WITH 52 NOMINATIONS

VOTING IS NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ON WWW.NAACPIMAGEAWARDS.NET

BEVERLY HILLS, CA (January 18, 2022) – Today, the full list of nominees for the “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” were announced in a special virtual event on NAACP’s Instagram channel hosted by actress and musician Kyla Pratt, “Black-ish” actor Marcus Scribner and singer-songwriter Tinashe (@naacpimageawards). The winners will be revealed during the two-hour LIVE TV special, which will be hosted by seven-time NAACP Image Awards Winner Anthony Anderson, airing Saturday, February 26^th, 2022 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on BET.

BET and the NAACP place the health and safety of attendees, staff, vendors, and partners first. Due to the ever-changing developments with COVID-19 and variants, the powerful night in Black excellence will move forward without an in-person audience.

Netflix leads nominations across motion picture and television + streaming categories. Insecure received the most nominations in the television + streaming categories. H.E.R. received the most nominations in the music recording categories. RCA Records received the most nominations across record labels. Amistad leads nominations across literary categories.

“We are thrilled to recognize this year’s nominees, who have all brought dynamic, entertaining, and thought provoking content to our attention through their incredible work in film, television, music and more,” said Chairman, Image Awards Committee, Karen Boykin-Towns.

“The BET team is immensely proud to continue our partnership with the NAACP and the annual Image Awards, underpinning our longstanding legacy of celebrating Black Excellence,” said Scott Mills, BET President, and CEO. “It is an extraordinary privilege to provide our unparalleled platforms to recognize the vast contributions of Black creators, in a way that only BET, and NAACP can.”

Recognized as the nation's preeminent multicultural awards show from an African-American perspective, the “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color across more than 80 competitive categories spanning film, television + streaming, music, literature, and podcasts. The “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” will also include four new podcast categories:  Outstanding News and Information Podcast; Outstanding Lifestyle / Self-Help Podcast; Outstanding Society and Culture Podcast; and Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Podcast. The “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” are presented by Wells Fargo and sponsored by AT&T, Google, T-Mobile, Bank of America, General Mills, FedEx, and Airbnb.

One of the most iconic annual celebrations of Black excellence, the NAACP Image Awards draws the biggest and brightest stars in Hollywood. Previous years' attendees and winners include Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Lizzo, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Michael B. Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Foxx, Chloe x Halle, Regé-Jean Page, Michaela Coel, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Blair Underwood, Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Anthony Anderson, Sterling K. Brown, Loni Love, Sheryl Underwood, Mandy Moore, Halle Berry, Common, Dwayne Johnson, Audra Day, John Legend, Lena Waithe, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Oyelowo, Laverne Cox, Octavia Spencer, Issa Rae, Trevor Noah, Regina King, Yara Shahidi, Danai Gurira, Jacob Latimore, Jill Scott, H.E.R., Jay Pharoah, Jemele Hill, Josh Gad, Loretta Devine, Tracy Morgan, Sylvester Stallone, Meta Golding, Michael Smith, Tyler James Williams, Ava DuVernay, the late Chadwick Boseman, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Lin-Mnuel Miranda, Stephen Curry, Stacey Abrams, Mary J. Blige, Andra Day, Arsenio Hall, Leslie Jones, Susan Kelechi Watson, Madalen Mills and many more.

Voting is now open to the public to determine the winners of the “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” by visiting www.naacpimageawards.net – Voting closes on February 5, 2022. Winners will be revealed during the “53^rd NAACP Image Awards” telecast on February 26, 2022, on BET. NAACP will also recognize winners in non-televised Image Awards categories February 21-23, which will stream on www.naacpimageawards.net, and during the NAACP Image Awards Dinner, which will be held February 25, 2022, in Los Angeles. For all information and the latest news, please follow NAACP Image Awards on Instagram @NAACPImageAwards.

Internationally, the show will air on BET Africa at 20:00 CAT on February 27, followed by BET France on March 2 at 8:45 pm CEST. The show will also be available to watch on My5 and Sky On-Demand in the UK beginning March 1.

Opportunities for press to cover the “53rd NAACP Image Awards” to be announced at a later date. For any additional media questions, please email NAACPImageAwards@sunshinesachs.com or BETPressinfo@bet.net, and someone will get back to you.

The full list of nominees can be found in the link below: https://www.betpressroom.com/press-release/the-full-list-of-53rd-naacp-image-awards-nominees/

AboutAnthony Anderson

Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor, Anthony Anderson is the star and executive producer of ABC’s multi-award nominated sitcom “black-ish” where he portrays Andre “Dre” Johnson which will air its eighth and final season.  Anderson also will reprise his role as Detective Kevin Barnard on the 21^st season of the highly anticipated return of “Law and Order.”  He also currently hosts the ABC game show “To Tell the Truth.” Anderson is also executive producer of both “black-ish” and it’s spin off “grown-ish.”

Anderson has numerous other television and over twenty film credits including TRANSFORMERS, THE DEPARTED and HUSTLE & FLOW.  Anderson has received seven Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series as producer, three Golden Globe nominations and three Critics Choice nominations for his role on “black-ish.” He has won seven Image Awards and a total of 16 nominations in his career. He has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild awards, BET Awards, and Teen Choice awards as well as one People’s Choice Awards and one Kids’ Choice Awards.  Anderson has also hosted the NAACP Image Awards for the past eight years. In 2020 he was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

About NAACP

Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP.

NOTE: The Legal Defense Fund – also referred to as the NAACP-LDF was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP, but separated in 1957 to become a completely separate entity. It is recognized as the nation's first civil and human rights law organization, and shares our commitment to equal rights.

About BET:

BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African American audience. The primary BET channel is in 125 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET+, the preeminent streaming service for the Black audience; BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.

NAACP Image Awards Media Contacts:

Sunshine Sachs | NAACPImageAwards@sunshinesachs.com

Marc Banks |  dbanks@naacpnet.org

Chloe Duverge | chloe.duverge@bet.net

Luis Defrank| luis.defrank@bet.net