The weeks leading to the 2016 Academy Awards weren’t exactly an exciting one. When the nominations were announced, many weren’t satisfied and hence, gave birth to celebrity activists. These activists weren’t thrilled about the “lack of diversity” in the nominations or to put it simply, the lack of nominated black actors and actresses.
Was it coincidence? Was it discrimination? Was it bad luck? Or was it just because the nominated actors deserved it more? Well, as a person looking from the outside in, not once did it occur to me that there is such a thing as “lack of diversity” in the creme de la creme of awards shows. I always believed that the Academy is credible enough to nominate the deserving actors and give the award to the best one.
In the past weeks, the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has been used in support for the cause. One of the very first people who spoke up about it was Jada Pinkett-Smith, who was believed to have reacted because her husband Will Smith wasn’t nominated. Then again, after a day or two, Jada made a video explaining why she felt that way and why she decided to boycott the Oscars.
Not long after, a slew of black actors also showed support for the cause namely Spike Lee, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Here’s what these people have to say:
“Everyone is beautiful and deserving and is fantastic, but it feels like it’s going the wrong direction…“The nominations reflect the Academy. The Academy reflects the industry and then the industry reflects America. There is a regressive slide towards separatism, towards racial and religious disharmony and that’s not the Hollywood that I want to leave behind.” — Will Smith
“Today is Martin Luther King’s birthday, and I can’t help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power and influence we have amassed that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere? I ask the question: Have we come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledge, or respect of any group?”– Jada Pinkett-Smith
“How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let’s Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can’t Act?! WTF!!” — Spike Lee
Do their claims have merit? Maybe. However, one cannot disregard how this year’s host Chris Rock is caught in the crossfire. Chris is only the second African-American to host the Oscars since Whoopi Goldberg and unfortunately, fellow black celebrities are requesting he boycott the show too. Here’s what Tyrese Gibson and 50 Cent said:
“There is no joke that he can crack. There is no way for him to seize the moment and come into this thing and say, ‘I’m going to say this and say that I’m going to address the issue but then I’m still going to keep my gig as the host,’ The statement that you make is that you step down.” — Tyrese Gibson
“Chris please do not do the oscars awards. You mean a lot man, don’t do it. Please.” — 50 Cent
On the other hand, Whoopi Goldberg has a different take on all of this and also addressed directly how unfair this situation is for Chris. Whoopi believes that all this boycotting won’t just hurt the Oscars, but it will hurt Chris. Plus, it’s not the Oscars problem, Whoopi said it is the entire movie industry and it has been going on for a while.
“Boycotting doesn’t work and it’s also a slap in the face to Chris Rock.” — Whoopi Goldberg
You’ll be happy to know that Chris did not step down as a host and is already preparing for #OscarsSoWhite jokes in the upcoming awards show. Genius Chris!
On the other hand, there are people who do not share the same views like Michael Caine and Charlotte Rampling. This is what they said about the whole controversy:
“You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to vote for him. He’s not very good, but he’s black. I’ll vote for him.’ You have to give a good performance.” — Michael Caine
“It is racist to whites. One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list.” — Charlotte Rampling
Mark Ruffalo and Ice Cube also had some comments to share about the controversy. However, these two stayed on neutral ground.
“Because if you look at Martin Luther King’s legacy, what he was saying was the good people who don’t act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposefully not acting, and don’t know the right way,.” — Mark Ruffalo
“I never used to go anyway. You can’t boycott something you never went to. We don’t do movies for the industry. We do movies for the fans, for the people. If the industry gives you a trophy or not, or pats you on the back or not, it’s nice, but it’s not something you should dwell on. We got accolades from all levels. We got so much praise for the movie.” — Ice Cube
While Mark sounded hesitant to go, he decided to because he has a much greater cause in mind–supporting victims of clergy sexual abuse as well as standing behind good journalism.
A few days ago, The Academy made an official announcement regarding making “substantive changes” in their members and adding more diversity to its membership. The Academy will be “doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020” as a response to the boycott.
So, it looks like all’s well that ends well, right? Well, for me? Not really. I just don’t understand why everything has to be black or white or black vs white? How can racial discrimination and separation end if even Hollywood actors working in the same industry can’t even agree on award nominations.
Is it really that important that you get an award for your work? Shouldn’t it be the number of hearts you’ve touched or the number of people you’ve entertained be worth as much as an award?
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