Hollywood insiders give views on Oscar diversity issue

Viola Davis is another celebrity who won’t be at the Oscars this year.

Think: Spike Lee had to wait 25 years to win an Honorary Oscar for his body of work, not one Black female filmmaker has been nominated for Best Director and only three of the 15 Black actors and actresses to win an Oscar did so by being directed by a Black director (Denzel Washington for Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day, Mo’nique for Lee Daniel’s Precious and Lupita Nyong’o for Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave).

The “Avengers: Age of Ultron” actor Ruffalo and “The Help” actress Davis are among the latest to speak amid the controversial debate. Lifetime voting rights will be granted only to Academy Award nominees and winners, and to members after three 10-year voting terms. You got to give a good performance, and I’m sure there were very good [performances]…Be patient. “That’s not the Hollywood that I want to leave behind”, he told Robin Roberts in a “Good Morning America” interview on Thursday.

“It’s not the Oscars”, she said, “the Oscars are a symptom of a much greater issue and that’s the issue of the Hollywood movie-making system”.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is set to make changes in its voting regulations and organization in light of the controversy surrounding its lack of diversity, the Academy announced on Friday.

Many Academy members quoted in the piece repeated the same phrases heard any time that the nominations skew overwhelmingly white-like, say, last year, or most years before. How are they being distributed? She questioned the number of films featuring a black cast that are made annually and how many producers think out of the box (or are colorblind) when casting. And yes, Black men (who I am assuming she is referring to) do have male privilege, but that doesn’t trump race.

And Davis concluded her speech, discussing the longtime hot topic of the gender pay gap, and how it disproportionately affects women of color. “You could probably line up all the A-list black actresses out there [and] they probably don’t make what one A-list white woman makes in one film”, Viola said.

Here’s a trailer for The 2016 Oscar Nominated Short Films will be released in theaters on January 29, providing the opportunity to see the films before the Academy Awards ceremony February 28.

Director Steven Soderbergh also spoke about the issue, saying the debate is distracting from the movies themselves.

Rock, who has not been shy about labeling Hollywood racist – having once called Los Angeles “a slave state” – has been quiet thus far. “In a weird way, he’s the flawless person to do this right now because he’ll be f–ing amusing”.

“He should absolutely host the show”, Soderbergh told the New York Daily News.