Oscars president ‘heartbroken and frustrated’ about lack of diversity

Not having people of color among the nominations – Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation) and Smith’s husband, Will Smith (Concussion), both were considered contenders – and ignoring Creed and Straight Outta Compton for best picture is “not just embarrassing for the Academy, it’s humiliating for America”, says Oscar expert Tom O’Neil of awards site GoldDerby.com.

For the past two years, all 20 of the nominees in the Oscar acting categories were white.

Now, thousands are pledging to boycott watching the awards ceremony on television, and Jada Pinkett-Smith and Spike Lee have publicly stated that they will not attend.

In announcing he would snub the Oscars ceremony, Lee said in a message on Instagram that he could not support the “lily white” awards show. The LA Times reported in 2013 that the Academy had added 432 new voting members over two years, and while the recruits were relatively diverse compared with past classes, the film industry group was still 93% white.

‘A year ago, I did a film called Selma, and after the Academy Awards, [president Cheryl Boone Isaacs] invited me to her office to talk about what went wrong then.

That day, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African-American, released a statement celebrating this year’s batch of nominees, but also saying she was “heartbroken and frustrated” by its lack of diversity.

“The Academy is an institution in which they all say radical and timely change can not happen quickly”. In response to another year of aggressively homogeneous nominees, Oyelowo spoke disparagingly of the Academy during a speech at a gala for its president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

“As many of you know, we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years”, she continued.

The Academy probably has a very slow journey ahead of it, but as long as it stays the course – and as long as its members actively strive to consider the artistic needs of a rapidly changing culture – there will be hope.

“This argument is about people in front of the cameras, but in many ways this brings us to the question of the other people, who are the people behind the cameras, who are the people making the decisions”, Thompson said. Straight Outta Compton was a great film; I think it just lost some Academy members who are older.

Jada Pinkett-Smith passionately urged actors and actresses of color, as well as African-Americans to boycott the 2016 Academy Awards due to the lack of diversity in this year’s nominations. “It doesn’t reflect this nation”.

“The Academy has a problem”.

“The Academy Awards is not where the “real” battle is”, wrote Lee on Tuesday. “The Gate Keepers. Those With “The Green Light” Vote”. That’s because previous year, the celebrated British thespian missed out on a nomination for his moving, masterly performance as Dr. Martin Luther King in Ava DuVernay’s electrifying Selma. People, The Truth Is We Ain’t In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lilly White.