Obama: Oscars diversity call part of broader issue

For those wondering if and when Chris Rock is going to step down as host of the Academy Awards in order to follow the boycott, rest assured that while he’s not stepping down, he’s rewriting his monologue, and you can bet he’ll handle the uproar with his typical biting humor. That could help explain why watching the Oscar ceremonies has become less enjoyable for many viewers than complaining about who didn’t win. The outrage over the exclusion of people of color prompted the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to start trending on Twitter.

In a letter to the academy, Stephen Geller, a member of the writers branch and screenwriter of Slaughterhouse-Five, accused academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs of “grey-listing” its older members.

Asked by Reid if he would be making a movie about Mr Obama when his current run as president ended, the charismatic star joked: “We’ve talked about and he said the reason he thought I’d be good at it is because we have matching ears”.

The Motion Picture Academy today revealed the first lineup of presenters and performers for the 88th Academy Awards, which will be televised live Sunday, Feb. 28, on ABC.

While changing the Academy’s membership policies is a move in the right direction, the Editorial Board believes the race problem in the movie industry goes deeper than whatever snubs may have happened in this year’s nominations. That elite institution is part of who we are, and that definition won’t change. Spike Lee, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have all said they’ll skip this year’s Oscars over the issue. Richard Lawson calls in from Utah to give us the rundown on the festival’s biggest hit, The Birth of a Nation, which with its director Nate Parker and true story of a slave rebellion fits right into Hollywood’s ongoing efforts to include more stories told by people of color.

“As many of you know, we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years”. People can only treat us in the way in which we allow. He is faithful to himself, and he made a decision, which he came out with publicly, and it’s his decision.

According to the Rolling Stone article, “Chris Rock Rewriting Monologue Following Oscars Boycott” by Daniel Kreps on January 24, 2016 the comedian has changed his opening statement to address the controversy.

Hopefully within the next couple years, minorities will be noticed for the great work they do on and off-screen, instead of just being recruited by the Academy to host, present awards and perform.