Variety seeks to shame Hollywood on lack of diversity

Some have proposed a boycott of the 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony to make a statement about the lack of diversity in nominations and the academy’s voting membership. Have Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., Djimon Hounsou, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry and Queen Latifah taken the last two years off?Spike Lee said because black actors were snubbed again he was boycotting the Academy Awards gala next month.

“It is a poorly thought out, poorly designed and highly divisive ruling which was done without consulting any of the membership”, she told The Canadian Press on Monday.

What about some of us-such as writers and producers-who work steadily but without screen credit? “I won once. So it can’t be that racist”, Goldberg, who received the best supporting actress Oscar in 1991 for her role in “Ghost“, said.

The academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Beiman’s letter. I didn’t think the film was that great, and the Best Actor category was incredibly competitive that year, so I didn’t think much of it. We should be careful as a consumers of the media so that we can see the argument against the Oscars clearly. Whereas the academy has a history of rewarding movies about African American historical figures or race as an issue or problem, its members are far less willing to recognize dramas that aren’t “about” race, but happen to feature black protagonists.

I think maybe so because there was clearly, with all those shootings and all those protests, most pronounced in Ferguson, Missouri, people reached that breaking point: People were not going to do it anymore.

The proposed changes by the Academy are part of an effort to double the diversity of voters by 2020, which will increase the likelihood of minority actors winning awards. In her tweet, she writes, “Tomorrow’s cover on Diversity crisis will be a must read”. I resent being discriminated against in this matter. I hope the Academy gets better but I can’t pretend to really care about that. It might not always be a conscious choice, but acknowledgement of the problem and taking measures against it are the first step to righting this historic wrong.

So why make these changes at all?

It’s interesting that while there’s been an outpouring on this from a lot of quarters, you haven’t seen – that I know of – a prominent director, actor, cinematographer from the Latino community speak out. Then they would vote to determine the five nominees.

In addition to shifting the makeup of its membership, the Academy also announced plans to prevent those no longer active in the movie industry from casting Oscar votes, although they can still maintain emeritus status.

Beiman said voting is the only privilege she enjoys. The Academy’s actions represent the systemic injustice that faces minorities in various areas of their lives, and a good place to start making visible change is in our entertainment.