No love for colored movies, again. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed, for a second year in a row, that every single Oscar nominee was white. After this announcement, there was an outrage over the lack of colored nominations from many celebrities. Twitter exploded with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite; this even lead to Jada Pinkett Smith calling for a boycott of the award ceremony this year.
The announcement of the nominations and the call for a boycott resulted in an increasing number of celebrities voicing their opinion on the matter of racism in the Academy. Here is just a few of the celebrities who have expressed their feelings regarding this issue.
Chris Rock
This year’s host of the Oscars made it a point to call out the Academy in his opening monologue, and really all throughout the show. Through all the racial jokes about how Hollywood is racist and about the boycott, Rock summed up the entire issue by saying:
“It’s not about boycotting. We want opportunities … we want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors – that’s it. Not just once.”
Jada Pinkett Smith
As the person responsible for the boycott, Smith really had a lot to say about the issue. Smith’s husband, Will Smith, did not get a nomination for his acting in the Golden Globe nominated movie Concussion. Pinkett Smith responded by saying, “at the Oscars…people of color are always welcome to give out awards…even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Should people of color refrain from participating altogether?” This led to her officially calling for a boycott on Twitter.
George Clooney
Oscar winner George Clooney also voiced his opinion on the matter in an interview with Variety. Clooney says, “If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated. I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films?”
Steven Spielberg
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, director Steven Spielberg talked about the conversation. One of the thoughts he shared was about what the Academy is doing to alleviate the diversity problem. “I do think that what the Academy is doing, in a proactive way, to open up the membership to diversity, I think that’s very, very important.” Spielberg says. “But it’s not just the Academy, and I think we have to stop pointing fingers and blaming the Academy”.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs
The president of the Academy quickly spoke out on the issue and revealed some of the steps that are being taken. She spoke at a luncheon about the issue by saying, “This year we all know there is an elephant in the room. I have asked the elephant to leave.” Isaacs goes on to talk about the changes to the Academy. Some of those changes include doubling the amount of women and diverse members on the board by the year 2020, according to the official Oscars website.