“It pledged to not only recruit but double the number of women and people of color in membership over the next four years, but to make changes in its current membership” to promote diversity.
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“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up”, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement published Friday. After three 10-year terms-or if they have been nominated for an Oscar-members will receive lifetime voting rights.
While the debate over the merits of increasing Oscars voters based on skin color will surely rage on for the coming days, at the very least these changes will have a tremendous effect on nominations for future Academy Awards. It is unclear if Peck’s approach succeeded in diversifying the Academy’s membership during his time; the evolution of that rule – so that now members must be active within 10 years instead of seven – is also uncertain. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to vote for him.
Lee, who was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement this season, and Pinkett-Smith have both said they will sit out the February 28 ceremony after no black actors were nominated in any of the 20 acting categories for a second straight year.
“There is a position that we hold in this community, and if we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem”, said Smith, a two-time Oscar nominee for his roles in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness.
The changes are “one good step in a long, complicated journey” for people of colour and women in the industry, she said via Twitter, adding: “Shame is a helluva motivator”.
“Marginalized artists have advocated for Academy change for DECADES”, DuVernay wrote. These seats will be nominated by the Academy president for three-year terms.
Earlier this week, Isaacs, who is African-American, admitted to being “heartbroken and frustrated by the lack of inclusion” in the prestigious awards ceremony, and declared it was “time for big changes”. “Deaf ears. Closed minds”.
The board made a unanimous vote to make changes on Thursday night. “So I totally get it and I support them but I have to demur and I have to stand up for the people I have to stand up for”.
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The 39-year-old isn’t the only previous victor to lend her voice to the racial controversy; Dustin Hoffman and George Clooney have also hit out, as have Oscar-nominees Don Cheadle, Mark Ruffalo and Spike Lee.
