Sharpton Calls for Broader Protests on Oscars Diversity

“I think Chris Rock will address it head on, which is exactly what the show and the Academy needs”, said Variety awards editor Tim Gray.

Rock pointed out that the absence of nominees from coloured backgrounds was not a new trend and used the early 1960s as an example. So he made fun of the protestors, as well, pointing out that African-Americans didn’t protest similar “white-outs” in the ’60s, because they were “too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer”.

The show got off to a brisk start thanks to host Chris Rock’s no-holds-barred monologue.

After the obligatory montage of the year’s movies, Rock came out and said he’d counted at least 15 black people in the video – and, just like that, he was off.

“As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show, ‘” Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin told “Entertainment Tonight” last month.

However, the host turned serious when addressing the lack of opportunities for black actors in Hollywood. “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!” he said, which met with laughter and applause.

Chris Rock: “We want opportunity”.

And he quipped that this year’s in-memoriam package was “just going to be black people shot by the cops on the way to the movies”.

And, he went on to say, “It’s not fair that Will Smith was this good [in ‘Concussion”] and didn’t get nominated.

“This will be the last night of an all-white Oscars”, Sharpton said, promising larger protests that will encompass several days if Hollywood and future Oscars ceremonies don’t recognize diverse actors and filmmakers. Sadly, she’s also one of only four of those double nominees to go home empty-handed. “Hollywood is sorority racist”, he said, referring to how white industry power players politely exclude minorities from their projects.

He joked that the Oscars could have specific black categories, saying: “You have men and women, there’s no real reason for there to be a man and woman category in acting – it’s not track and field; you don’t have to separate them”.

After a Compton movie-goer named Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s By the Sea as her favorite white movie of the year: “Wow, not ever they would say that!”

Many pundits believe the best-picture category is now a three-legged race among “The Big Short”, “The Revenant” and “Spotlight”. That’s it. And not just once. But what about the black actors. Look at Jamie Foxx.

As previously reported, #OscarsSoWhite began to trend on Twitter after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations on January 14.

DiCaprio’s career has spanned more than 20 years, and seen him star in a dazzling list of hit films, but so far an Oscar has eluded him despite a number of nominations.

Later, the two men hugged it out as Baron Cohen interrupted Seacrest’s interview with Lady Gaga to ask for a hug and the two embraced. “If George Clooney showed up with a lime green tux on and a swan coming out his ass, somebody would go, ‘What you wearing, George?'”