Is everybody getting a fair shot, Obama asks about Oscars

The Oscars Academy was recently crucified for a lack of ethnic diversity among their 2015 nominations. Even though blacks then accounted for 12 percent of the USA population and 25 percent of moviegoers, the story noted that only 3.9 percent of Academy members and 2.3 percent of the Directors Guild of America’s members were black.

“I think it’s going to affect every single level, whether it’s in front of the camera or behind the camera or in the studio suite”, she added.

The Academy Awards are set to take place February 28th, however some of the industry’s most recognisable faces have threatened to boycott the event because of its lack of diversity and inclusiveness. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, told ITK last week that he would support a boycott. It’s the same room the two convened in four years ago to discuss the debt ceiling, gay marriage and the economy.

Obama said the diversity debate is an expression of a broader issue: “Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot?”

KABC “Look for talent, and provide opportunity to everybody”, President Obama said.

On Monday, Mark Reina, a longtime member of the Academy who is gay and Latino, published an open letter to Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs blasting what he called the organization’s assumption that he is racist.

“We no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere. Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot”, he added.

Addressing the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the president said diversity makes for better art, which in turns, makes for better entertainment.

Meanwhile, though women earned more Oscar nominations overall, they were completely shut out from the best cinematography and best director categories at Hollywood’s biggest and splashiest awards show again.

For a second consecutive year, all 20 of the actors up for Oscars are white.

Boone Isaacs says the response to the changes has been “pretty positive”: “[S]ome people I haven’t heard from before are saying, ‘Bravo, this is a great step forward, we’re proud of our Academy, we’re proud of our board'”.

Clinton’s critique of a racially skewed nomination process is somewhat ironic given that the Democratic field is the whitest it has been since 1992.