Wunmi Mosaku says it feels “truly dystopian” to celebrate her best supporting actress Oscar nomination after people were killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Sinners actress, who became a first-time nominee last month for her role as Annie in the Ryan Coogler-directed film, recently spoke during an interview with the Times of London about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents last month.
“I’ve not been able to celebrate because of what’s going on right now, with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minnesota and the kidnapping of a five-year-old boy,” Mosaku said. “It’s difficult to hold both the nomination and the news because one feels beautiful and one is so dark and heavy; truly dystopian — how can I possibly go out and buy some drinks and enjoy the moment?”
She added that her husband “is not as shocked as I am at the news. There’s a very strange American psyche where terrible things happen and people still can go to work the next day, whereas I’m floored for a week and think, ‘How are people going to crowded places when this has just happened?’ I want a cocoon. My reaction reminds him that this is not normal.”
Mosaku joins other celebrities who have spoken out against ICE and the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies, including Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny, who called out ICE during the 2026 Grammys. Bruce Springsteen also released an anti-ICE song about the “state terror” in Minneapolis following the deaths of Good and Pretti. More recently, at the Spirit Awards on Sunday, Natasha Rothwell, Tessa Thompson and Kumail Nanjiani also protested the federal immigration agency.
After learning of her Oscar nomination last month, Mosaku told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that her nod felt even more special because of the impact her Sinners character had on Black women.
“Just knowing how a lot of Black women felt when seeing me represent her, just feeling lovable and soft and strong and powerful and loving and all of our humanity and our mystique and power and spirituality and our ancestors and our connection and our purpose — seeing the response, hearing the response from other Black women felt really healing. So just knowing that this character is being celebrated in award season feels really good. I don’t take it lightly,” Mosaku said.
“I always say more than anything, I’m so grateful for the people who poured into Ryan to give him this gift and see us in all of our humanity and our gentleness and how much he loves Black women because he wrote that role and he cast me,” she continued. “He hasn’t been tainted by capitalism and the ideas of what femininity is and what beauty is.”
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