Issa Rae Opens Up About Her Oscar Nominations Joke, Lack of Female Representation in Hollywood and More

On Wednesday, HBO announced that the new season of “Insecure” will premier on April 12th, 2020, and released the first trailer for season 4 at the Television Critics Association.

According to Deadline, Issa Rae, the creator, and star of the hit comedy, was joined by executive producer/writer/director Prentice Penny and fellow cast members Yvonne Orji and Jay Ellis on a panel to tease details about the forthcoming season.

But before the group unpacked the details of the season, the discussion turned to Rae’s subtle shade at the Oscar nominations, earlier this week.

While announcing the Best Director nominees, which echoed the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards in the all too common tradition of shutting out women, Rae shared a sarcastic “Congratulations to those men.”

Rae explained that she was told to provide “banter” with co host John Cho, and she was just following directions.

“John Cho and I were told to banter for five seconds, so that was my banter — I didn’t lie,” Rae said bluntly. “I said congratulations, and there were men there.”

When asked about the lack of female directors in the director category, Rae admitted that while it was definitely unfortunate, she said she’s tired of having the same conversation every year, the publication reports. “The Academy needs to do better,” she said. “I just don’t want to get too worked up about it. It is what it is at this point. It’s annoying.”

Rae and her ”Insecure” castmates discussed what’s in store for the fourth season of the show, and it’s all about leveling up.

Issa has quit her job and has thrown herself into a new venture with her passion project of a block party while her best friend Molly (Orji) is in her first solid relationship in a long time with “Asian BAE” Andrew (Alexander Hodge, who is now a series regular) and learning to balance her personal and work life. Lawrence (Ellis) is thriving as well.  When asked if fans can expect to see Lawrence and Issa reunite.  Rae was tight-lipped, telling attendees we’ll all have to wait to see.