Despite last week’s announcement by the Academy of a landmark campaign to diversify its voters ranks, a chapter of Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is moving ahead with protest plans.
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“There have been people … selected as members of the Academy, they were working in the film industry at that time … and they’ve moved on to a completely different field”, said Ms Hudson of the lifetime voting rights that have caused controversy over the years. “And we had no reason to be silent”.
AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson added that she wanted to address critics who said the Academy was only pursuing these changes in the name of political correctness, saying that accusation “makes me a little insane”. Members will receive lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms, or if they’ve been nominated for an Oscar. “Unbelievable”, Boone Isaacs told The Hollywood Reporter.
Speaking in the wake of the #Oscarssowhite outrage over an all-white acting nominee’s list for a second consecutive year, the pair said that the recent changes to membership regulations were introduced to reflect the “best of film culture”.
“You need directors and producers who will say, ‘Hey, what about so and so?’ They need to be aware that the picture is not complete”.
An Oscar statue stands in front of a curtain during a press event for Foreign Language Film Award nominees leading up to the 87th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 20, 2015. Boone Isaacs said that the Academy would gladly welcome Lee and the Smiths if they should reverse course and attend the ceremony.
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Isaacs and Hudson discuss this year’s Oscars host Chris Rock, critiques of the membership changes, how inclusion is essential for survival and behind-the-scenes drama that led to this historic change. Boone Isaacs said. “This is Chris”. That elite institution is part of who we are, and that definition won’t change. This is a person we all know. He is a brilliant, observant comedian and performer, and he is a brilliant host. “And we knew we were going to have to speak to this issue”.
