I can't be the only one finding that all these jokes about female representation at award shows are just leaving a really sour taste.
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Last night, Jack Whitehall opened the BRIT Awards with his own fresh take on that same, tired gag.
"Environmental issues have been a big theme of awards show this year," he said. "And in the spirit of sustainability the Brits has been recycling all the same excuses for why so few women were nominated."
At the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais threw in a similarly vacuous joke by prefacing: "A lot of controversy over our next category...No female directors were nominated this year. That's bad."
Before adding: "I've had a word with the HFPA and they have guaranteed this will never happen again. Working with all the major studios, [the HFPA has] agreed to go back to the way things were when they didn't hire women directors. That will solve the problem. You're welcome."
While just weeks later at the Oscars, Steve Martin also opened the 'Best Director' category by stating, in a pantomime fashion, that something was "missing" from the lineup.
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"What vaginas?," Chris Rock quipped back.
All these moments got a laugh - sure - and even a cheer from some of the audience.
But the truth is, these men might as well have been saying: "I know this ceremony is seriously under-representing women, but sod it, I took the gig anyway".
At the BRITs this year, out of 25 possible nominations in mixed gender categories, only three women got a look in: Mabel, Normani and Miley Cyrus. That's a painful 12 per cent.
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Meanwhile, women only got 30 per cent of non acting nominations at the Oscars; and (like every year for the last decade, minus 2018) there were no women put forward in the Best Director category.
The Golden Globes were an equally pitiful affair. Women didn't get any nominations at all for Best Director, Best Screenplay or Best Motion Picture, despite many ranking as popular among critics. Literally zilch.
But it's nothing new, really, considering a woeful four have been nominated in total for Best Director since 2000, in comparison to more than 100 men.
When you read it in black and white, it's really not that funny, is it?
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Of course, the blame for lack of female representation can't solely be placed on the award shows themselves.
Their short-falling also points at a glaring need in both the music and movie industries to champion women at the start of their careers, and give them the break-throughs they deserve.
Currently, only 19 per cent of the artists signed to record labels in the UK are women, as are only 17 per cent of the members of the Directors Guild of America.
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As Dame Heather Rabbatts, Chair of Time's Up UK, tells the BBC: "People tend to recruit in their own image" - and let's face it, we've still get a hell of a lot of men at the top of the food chain.
But really, is a host of a prestigious ceremony joking about the glaring lack of female nominees actually doing anything except virtue signalling to the highest degree?
Sorry, but if I was a women who had been snubbed from the runnings, I would undoubtedly feel *little* bit condescended to see someone dress up in their glad rags, accept their paycheque and, in the same breath, tell me - through the medium of comedy - that they're with me on the fight for equality.
While the industry can't change overnight, and gender equality takes time, I can't help but feel that perhaps calling for more inclusive categories at the award show you're working at, ensuring gender diverse judging panels and suggesting ways they can change for the better might be a little more effective.
Pointing out inequality is well meaning, and all that. But do you know what's better? Showing you care enough to actually stand up and do something about it.
But maybe next year, eh ladies?
Featured Image Credit: ITVTopics: brit awards, News
