Academy Awards head says Oscars need 'big changes' after lack of diversity among nominations

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has issued a statement promising more diversity
Michael Howie21 January 2016
The Weekender

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The head of the Academy Awards today admitted the Oscars need “big changes” amid a growing row over the lack of black stars in this year’s nominations.

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs issued a statement promising more diversity after Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith both announced that they will boycott this year’s ceremony.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Lee said he “cannot support” the “lily-white” Oscars.

Noting that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr Day, Lee - who in November was given an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards - said he was fed up: “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all,” he wrote. “We can’t act?!”

In a video message on Facebook, Pinkett Smith also said she would not attend or watch the Oscars in February.

We must stand in our power!

We must stand in our power.

Posted by Jada Pinkett Smith on Monday, 18 January 2016

Pinkett Smith, whose husband, Will Smith, was not nominated for his performance in the NFL head trauma drama Concussion, said it was time for people of colour to disregard the Academy Awards.

“Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power,” she said. “And we are a dignified people and we are powerful.”

She added: “Let’s let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let’s do us differently.”

The video had amassed 4.5 million views by mid-Monday afternoon.

In response Ms Isaacs promised an examination of the Academy and a more intense drive to diversify.

“This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes,” she said in a statement released last night.

“The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the make-up of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.”

Last year’s all-white acting nominees also drew calls for a boycott, though not from such prominent individuals as Lee and Pinkett Smith. Whether it had any impact or not, the audience for the broadcast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was down 16 per cent from the year before - a six-year low.

Oscar nominations 2016

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Ms Isaacs has made a point of presenting a more inclusive show this year. The February 28 broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by Django Unchained producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill. On Saturday, Rock, unveiling a new promotion for the broadcast, called the ceremony “The White BET Awards”.

When Oscar nominations were announced last Thursday, Ms Isaacs acknowledged she was “disappointed” that all 20 acting nominees were again white and promised to “continue the conversation” on diversity.

She has worked to diversify membership for the Academy, which a 2012 study by the Los Angeles Times found is overwhelmingly white and male.

Many had predicted nominations for Idris Elba for Beasts Of No Nation and Benicio Del Toro for Sicario.

The NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton also failed to earn a best picture nomination, despite some predictions that it would.

Ryan Coogler’s acclaimed Rocky sequel Creed scored only one nomination - for Sylvester Stallone.

Lee’s own movie, the Chicago gang violence hip-hop musical Chi-Raq - celebrated by some and scorned by others - also went unnoticed.

The 88th Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre on February 28.

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