Speaking about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which has seen several celebrities such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee vow to boycott the awards ceremony because of a lack of diversity in the nominations, she said on The View: “The issue is not the Academy”. They are also apparently going to be putting some limits to the previously life-long voting rights of some of its members.
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It’s unsurprising that the same types of films are considered Oscar-worthy when those doing the voting are all of a singular type, too.
STAFF/REUTERS For a second straight year, all 20 acting Oscar nominees were white. The overwhelmingly white, male organization-troubled by its rapidly declining power in an ever-evolving world-released a press release this week, after the Oscar nominations provoked outrage over the exclusion of black and brown artists.
The academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Beiman’s letter.
In 2013, 93 percent of the academy’s members were white.
While Justice, himself, is not in danger of getting ousted from the Academy (he won an Oscar in 1986 and is therefore assured lifetime voting rights), he does speak up on behalf of all the other voters who are not so lucky and will subsequently be facing expulsion if they do not actively contribute to the industry again soon. “I think this is what they’re trying to fix”.
“We have this conversation every year and it p***es me off”.
“We appreciate what the Academy has done so far, but understand one thing, it is still just a promise to make change”.
“I don’t even know how many there are in other categories, but in animation, it’s going to pretty much decimate us”, she said, “because quite a few of the older animators are not working in theatrical features anymore”.
“A woman (on career hiatus) raising a family would have a distinct problem”. Working in the last 10 years is one way to ensure you have voting privileges. Whoopi Goldberg said she wouldn’t refuse her invite, and suggested it’s the lack of films featuring diverse talent that’s the problem.
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The Academy will also take immediate action to increase diversity by adding new members who are not Governors to its executive and board committees where key decisions about membership and governance are made.
