Oscars: Viola Davis adds her voice to diversity row

AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who happens to be black, has noted that the Academy is working to diversify its membership, but it’s already made progress on that front. I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films?

Other notable actors of color who announced that they will be boycotting the show include director Spike Lee and his wife.

At the opening of the Sundance Film Festival, founder Robert Redford – who is himself an Oscar victor and four-time nominee – refused to be drawn directly on the Oscars controversy, but stressed one of the fundamental tenets of Sundance was diversity. Not least because repetition has never been a problem for Oscar voters – indeed, the one non-white director to make the shortlist this year, for The Revenant, is last year’s victor, Birdman’s Mexican virtuoso Alejandro G Inarritu.

Davis has decided not to attend the awards this year, because she’s not boycotting it altogether, but because she is going on a vacation.

The Oscar boycott just got political.

For the second straight year in a row, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences-the organization behind Hollywood’s biggest and splashiest awards show-failed to nominate a single actor or actress of color in the lead and supporting acting categories.

“There’s always a tendency, it seems, to label things and speak out against things, but I want to make it clear that I’m not against the mainstream”, he said. However, when asked whether she agreed with stars like Tyrese Gibson, who have argued that host Chris Rock should protest against the event, Davis said that its the comedian’s choice.

They might well begin that process by asking themselves, hand on heart, if the best 40 performances in cinema over the past two years really were all given by white people.

Viola Davis is joining the conversation about diversity at the Academy Awards. I’ve been in the game for 25 years. Last year’s host, Neil Patrick Harris even opened the awards ceremony last year with the line: ‘Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest.

“Boycotting doesn’t work and it’s also a slap in the face to Chris Rock”, added Goldberg.

“I do support the Oscar Ban movement’s position that the nominations do not reflect the diversity of our community”, Ruffalo tweeted.

In this image released by Fox, Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon appears in a scene from “Empire”.

“There’s probably a part of that in there but, for Jada, had I been nominated and no other people of color were, she would have made the video anyway”, Smith said.