Viola Davis: ‘Oscars row is all wrong’

How are they being distributed?

“I think they are reflective of the African-American community”, Davis said of the actors who are speaking out against the lack of diversity.

This touched off several days of commentary about possible solutions to the Academy’s diversity problems, some more realistic than others. “The films that are being made, are the big-time producers thinking outside of the box in terms of how to cast the role?” she said in an interview. While accepting her award, she said, “The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity. You can not win an (award) for roles that are simply not there”.

Davis will not be attending the Oscars in February but she is not boycotting it either. However, when asked whether she agreed with stars like Tyrese Gibson, who have argued that host Chris Rock should protest against the event, Davis said that its the comedian’s choice.

It might be irresponsible but certainly not irrational of me to suggest that one of the reasons “Beasts” was snubbed at the Oscars was because of the racial make-up of its cast. It’s a symptom of a much greater disease. And we all have to take into account that the Academy awards merits for greatness, not skin color.

As the category has now been expanded to allow up to ten nominees, these kind of films are becoming more frequent, and you only have to look back over the last few years to see that the likes of The Help and Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close have recently been given the nod. Jordan’s case was considered quite unique because he starred in the Rocky spinoff film Creed, in which he played Apollo Creed’s son. Stallone was nominated as best supporting actor, while Jordan and the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, were snubbed.

Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have both vowed to boycott the ceremony, and director Spike Lee has also decided not to go, and Reese Witherspoon, Dustin Hoffman, and Mark Ruffalo have all since spoken out on the subject.