Hollywood figures lead boycott of Academy Awards citing a lack of racial diversity in nominations – two years in a row.
Advertisement
Jada Pinkett Smith posted a video calling black actors to boycott the Oscars because of the “lack of recognition for people of colour”, and so Will’s former on-screen mum couldn’t hold her tongue.
Mexican-Kenyan actress and filmmaker Lupita Nyong’o became the first Mexican and Kenyan to win an Oscar, which she took home in 2013 for her supporting role in “12 Years a Slave”.
“It’s about executives…giving those storylines and those actors a fair bite”, Kenya Moore said.
Many awards handicappers expected nominations for Idris Elba of “Beasts of No Nation” and Benicio Del Toro for “Sicario”. One day earlier, four time Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg, now Den Mom on the network’s The View, complained on-air, “Why is this a conversation we only have once a year?” “There were nominations left off the table”. I believe the Academy will fix this.
However, some have criticized the calls to boycott the upcoming Academy Awards, which will be hosted by black comedian Chris Rock.
Isaacs, a Springfield, Massachusetts, native, had tweeted on Monday that the Academy is taking steps to diversify its membership.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton urged Americans to “tune out” the ceremony while documentary-maker Michael Moore and actress Jada Pinkett-Smith said they would boycott it. Other directors and actors rejected such action.
“There needs to be more diversity in the actual Academy itself”, actor and writer Lucas Hazlett said.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs responded to the criticisms, saying that she is “heartbroken” by the “lack of conclusion”. We need stronger efforts to develop people for jobs in front of and behind the camera, including in the studio offices.
“[It] raises the question of whether an organization the size of the Academy can be changed significantly just through an influx of new members”.
David Oyelowo, who was ignored at last year’s Oscars after his critically acclaimed depiction of Martin Luther King in the American historical film -Selma, revealed to E! that it’s unforgivable for coloured actors and actresses to be snubbed again this year.
In 2012, a Los Angeles Times study of the academy found that “Oscar voters are almost 94% Caucasian and 77% male” while “Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%”. “People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership”. Forty (yes, 40) years later, the art world largely mirrors the entertainment business in its undervaluing of female artists.
Reporters spoke to thousands of Academy members and their representatives to confirm the identities of more than 5,100 voters – more than 89% of the voting members.
Some of the Academy’s 15 branches are nearly exclusively white and male. “We need to counter what everybody has, see the lay of the land and see who has which careers in TV”, he said during a speech in Parliament yesterday (January 18th 2016). “So it also shows you that the work is what’s important because that’s what’s going to stand for years, not an award”.
Advertisement
“People can only treat us in the way in which we allow”.
