Calls to Boycott Oscars Grow Over Diversity of Nominees
President of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences promises a discussion on diversity issue soon.
Amid calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards over its
all-white acting nominees and Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith both announcing
they would sit out this year’s ceremony, the academy’s president said it was
time for major changes, and soon.
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President
Cheryl Boone Isaacs issued a statement promising more diversity, and quickly,
after both Lee and Pinkett spoke out on Monday.
Smith also took to Twitter to protest this discrimination.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Lee said he “cannot support” the “lily white” Oscars. Noting that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lee – who in November was given an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards – said he was fed up: “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all,” he wrote. “We can’t act?!”
In a video message on Facebook, Pinkett Smith also said she wouldn’t attend or watch the Oscars in February. Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith wasn’t nominated for his performance in the NFL head trauma drama “Concussion,” said it was time for people of color to disregard the Academy Awards.
Last year’s all-white acting nominees also drew calls for a boycott, though not from such prominent individuals as Lee and Pinkett Smith. Whether it had any impact or not, the audience for the broadcast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was down 16 percent from the year prior, a six-year low.
Isaacs has made a point of presenting a more inclusive show this year. The February 28 broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by “Django Unchained” producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill. On Saturday, Rock, unveiling a new promotion for the broadcast, called the ceremony “The White BET Awards.”
When Oscar nominations were announced, Isaacs acknowledged she was “disappointed” that all 20 acting nominees were again white and promised to “continue the conversation” on diversity.
On Monday, Isaacs was more explicit and promised an examination of the academy and a more intense drive to diversify.
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