Viola Davis speaks out on Oscars diversity

“And certainly previous year, with Selma director Ava DuVernay – I think that it’s just ridiculous not to nominate her”.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said he had not planned to attend the Oscars prior to the boycott and those plans had not changed after seeing the nominations.

“TV cares about its audience”, says Davis, who in September became the first African-American to win an Emmy for best actress in a drama.

It’s with our American society, which doesn’t want to buy movies and films where Arabs have their own comedy sitcoms, tell their own stories in movies or publish their own books.

In her speech, Viola Davis said that the only barrier that separates actors of color from others is opportunity. Everything can’t be the same. “And we are a dignified people and we are powerful, and let’s not forget it. So let’s let the Academy do them, with all grace and love, and let’s do us, differently”.

Will Smith is joining his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in the boycott because he said, “We’re uncomfortable to stand there and say it’s OK”. This “New Hollywood”, as it came to be known, kicked off with movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider, and was made up of filmmakers with names like Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma, and Polanski. Idris Elba, who was not nominated for his role in Netflix’ critically acclaimed “Beasts of No Nation”, also had no immediate response.

Smith told Good Morning America on January 21, “No [I will not attend]”. “The film community is better served when a wider array of voices is celebrated”.

“I think diversity is the American superpower”. Ryan Coogler, award winning director of last year’s “Creed”, had no luck either in the directorial category. “The things that they’re rallying against are true, there is… diversity issues… but… the people that are actually rallying are very powerful, and they could create their own Academy, so I go for – start your own Academy”. Again, his view is a bit more simplistic, but you can see the interviews with both Smith and Wayans (which starts about 3:40) below. According to a 2012 study conducted by the Los Angeles Times, 94% of the Academy’s over 6,000 voting members were white, and 77% of them were white men, with an average age of 62. Though TV has made some strides in front of the camera, its board rooms and writers’ rooms (not to mention late-night TV hosts) remain largely white and male, too. Because we live in an age of technological disruption where consumers who value diversity think nothing of turning away from ossified institutions in favor of media that honor and reflect their interests, Hollywood may finally be in a mood to reform itself to ensure its economic viability into the future. “I think we’re in a period of transition”.

“But honestly, there should be more opportunity than that”.

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs has responded to the controversy with a promise to make the organization’s membership more diverse.