It is no secret that the landscape of the Academy Awards is fairly racial but this year the canvas is completely blank as an all-white cast of actors dominate the list of nominees.
AWARDSSEASON
Hollywood reacts to lack of diversity in nominations
It is no secret that the landscape of the Academy Awards is fairly racial but this year the canvas is completely blank as an all-white cast of actors dominate the list of nominees. As the Oscars rolled out nomination this past Thursday, social media, particularly Twitter, went into frenzy as last year’s hashtag #OscarSoWhite made a resounding comeback.
Now though, the industry is reacting and it paints a terrible picture. Sylvester Stallone, for instance, has earned a nomination for Creed but there’s no nod for his co-star Michael B. Jordon. Then there is Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight which should’ve landed Samuel L. Jackson an Oscar nod; ditto for Will Smith in Concussion.
Actor-comedian Chris Rock took on the mighty Oscars in a 15-seconds promo and called it: “White BET Awards”.
Straight Outta Compton producer Will Packer called it an embarrassment as he took to Facebook and expressed his distaste for the white-out. He pointed out actors like Michael B. Jordon, Idris Elba, Will Smith and John Boyega as some of the glaring omissions.
“To my Academy colleagues, WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. Period. The reason the rest of the world looks at us like we have no clue is because in 2016 it’s a complete embarrassment to say that the heights of cinematic achievement have only been reached by white people. I repeat—it’s embarrassing,” wrote Packer.
Addressing the controversy following the Oscar announcement, Academy President Cheryl Boone told Access Hollywood: “Well, it is disappointing, I have to say. This is something that’s very important to the Academy and important to me and we are going to continue this fight of the discussion and the discussion is a good one,” she said. “But, it is not just about talking, it is about doing and we are very much still in that seat to drive this issue, to have more inclusion of people of colour and women to participate in one of the greatest art forms there is.”
Her statement isn’t enough it seems as Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network L.A are pushing for a boycott of the ceremony in entirety.
“Hollywood is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher up you get the whiter it gets, and this year’s Academy Awards will be yet another Rocky Mountain Oscars”, Sharpton said in a statement and added: “Yet again, deserving Black actors and directors were ignored by the academy — which reinforces the fact that there are few if any Blacks with real power in Hollywood. Being left out of awards consideration is about more than just recognition for a job well done; winning an Oscar has long-lasting cultural and economic impacts.”
Echoing Reverend Al Sharpton is actor Jada Pinkett Smith who also thinks that the lack of diversity, showcased by the Academy merits a boycott.
“At the Oscars...people of colour are always welcomed to give out awards...even entertain,” wrote Smith on her social media page, “but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments.”
