Recently, #OscarsSoWhite has been trending on twitter in light of the Oscars’ lack of diversity. For the 20 nominees in the categories for Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress, every nominee is white. It’s hard to fathom why no one of color was nominated when there were actors like Michael B. Jordan in “Creed” and Samuel L. Jackson in “The Hateful Eight” and many others who had mind blowing performances in their films.
It brings to question what type of people are voting for these actors and why there continues to be a lack of diversity at the Academy Awards. Evidently, in 2014 only 2% of the Academy’s voters were African American, whereas the remaining 94% were white. Also, hispanic actors have only 3% of the nominations and Asian-Americans have only 1%. Not only are these voters mostly white but they are also almost all male.
The Oscars are also being hosted by Chris Rock who tweeted, “The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.” Chris Rock will undoubtedly be addressing the overwhelming whiteness at the awards show. Other celebrities like Ava DuVernay and Will Smith have also spoken out against attending the event. With #OscarsSoWhite making headlines in the media, it is definitely an issue that will be brought up more than once.
Make sure to grab your friends and a huge bowl of popcorn and tune in this Sunday at 5:30!