This Academy Awards have been heavily criticised for failing to acknowledge non-white actors two years in a row. Moreover, as critics have pointed out, there were many stellar performances in 2015 by people of color. The announcement of the changes came immediately when the AMPAS said they planned to make alterations in their membership policies. It maintains 17 branches, and the entire membership votes on who will get the Oscar trophy. The academy also set a goal to double minority and women members by 2020. A hashtag, #OscarsSoWhite, spread like wildfire throughout social media.
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“During the year, (Academy voters) aren’t the people you need to be trying to boycott!”.
The lack of diverse nominations has caused some high profile actors of colours to boycott next month ceremony, including actress Jada Pinkett Smith and award-winning director Spike Lee. We want to strengthen, uphold, and maintain the credibility of the Oscars with these new criteria. Now, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and CEO Dawn Hudson are speaking out for the first time since the Oscar changes were announced, in a long interview with The Hollywood Reporter, to further explain the changes and defend their objective. “In fact, under the new rules many veteran Academy members will retain voting rights”. “The President from day one has really fought to insure that everybody has an equal opportunity to compete and achieve their dreams”, she said. Don’t go see the movies that don’t have your representation.
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Other actors have also commented on the lack of diversity and the voting practices and members of Academy of Motion Pictures and Science has been heavily criticized in America and overseas. That’s the boycott you want. Last year, I announced at the Governors Awards this initiative of A2020, which was actually naming the activity that we have been doing. She gave a keynote speech in South Korea last fall to champion global diversity in the film industry. They need to be aware that the picture is not complete’.
