Twitter users are speaking out after "Selma" was shut out of all major categories, besides Best Picture and Best Original Song, when the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on Thursday morning.

The film, which has been heralded by , chronicles Martin Luther King Jr's 1965 campaign to secure equal voting rights by marching with protesters from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. The fact that the film was nominated for Best Picture, but director Ava DuVernay and lead actor David Oyelowoo were snubbed, came as a surprise to critics and fans alike. 

Using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, disappointed fans vented their frustration at a perceived lack of diversity among the nominees. Some even called the snub 鈥渞acist.鈥� 

Many used humour to express their thoughts on the issue.

This was the first time in 17 years that all the nominees in the four acting categories were white. At least one non-white person has been nominated since .

Just a year ago, the Oscars celebrated a banner year for diversity after "12 Years a Slave" made history by becoming the first film by a black director, Steve McQueen, to win best picture. Mexican-Kenya actress Lupito Nyong'o also took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, thanks to her role in the film.

Criticism has been leveled at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because its members are . 94 per cent of its roster is Caucasian and 76 per cent are white.

Some Twitter users also pointed out that people of colour are only nominated when they play certain stereotyped roles.