On Monday January 18th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jada Pinkett Smith released a video with filmmaker Spike Lee stating that they would be boycotting the 2016 Oscars ceremony on February 28.
The reason behind the boycott is the lack of diversity among nominees for this year’s Academy Awards. Nominees for the four main categories are—for the second year in a row—all white. This has led to the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and drawn attention to long standing race issues in Hollywood.
According to Cosmopolitan.com, Smith states in the video: “Is it time that people of color recognize how much power, influence that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?” The actress and mother of mini-celebs Willow and Jaden Smith continued, “Maybe it’s time that we recognize that if we love and respect and acknowledge ourselves in the way in which we are asking others to do, that that is the place of true power.”
In a statement spurred by Smith’s video, the president of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs said how heartbroken and frustrated she was with this lack of inclusion. She stated: “This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes.”
These changes are already beginning to unfold as the Academy introduced a new plan to improve diversity, starting with the introduction of new Academy rules, being placed into effect in late 2016. These rules will change the current state of voting membership. New members, for example, have voting status that lasts 10 years and the status of any member can be renewed only if “that new member has been active in a motion picture during that decade”. Lifetime voting rights can be achieved after serving three ten-year terms or if they have won/been nominated for an Oscar.
A new status has been created for members who have not been active in films in the past ten years. Emeritus members as they will be called, do not pay dues, and have all the same benefits as active members, except for voting. Another big change includes the formation of three new governor seats, nominated by the President of the
Academy for three-year stints and confirmed by the Board.
Isaac’s hope is that these changes will lead the industry in the right direction towards a more diverse Hollywood. Although changes won’t affect this year’s Oscars, don’t forget to tune in Sunday, February 28 as Chris Rock hosts the 88th Academy Awards live from Hollywood on ABC.