Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith boycott Oscars over lack of diversity
Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are boycotting the Oscars over a lack of diversity among the nominees.
Director Lee thanked the Academy Awards for his honorary Oscar – but said he and his wife Tonya can no longer support the ceremony.
Alongside the hashtag ‘OscarsSoWhite’, he took to Instagram to slam the lack of diversity, writing: “We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy. But, 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!!”
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="6"> <div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BArm7C2Sqh_/" target="_blank" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3159361-https://www.instagram.com/p/BArm7C2Sqh_/" data-vars-event-id="c23">#OscarsSoWhite... Again. I Would Like To Thank President Cheryl Boone Isaacs And The Board Of Governors Of The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences For Awarding Me an Honorary Oscar This Past November. I Am Most Appreciative. However My Wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee And I Will Not Be Attending The Oscar Ceremony This Coming February. We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy. But, 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!! It's No Coincidence I'm Writing This As We Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. Dr. King Said "There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It's Right". For Too Many Years When The Oscars Nominations Are Revealed, My Office Phone Rings Off The Hook With The Media Asking Me My Opinion About The Lack Of African-Americans And This Year Was No Different. For Once, (Maybe) I Would Like The Media To Ask All The White Nominees And Studio Heads How They Feel About Another All White Ballot. If Someone Has Addressed This And I Missed It Then I Stand Mistaken. As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The "Real" Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To "Turnaround" Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important. The Gate Keepers. Those With "The Green Light" Vote. As The Great Actor Leslie Odom Jr. Sings And Dances In The Game Changing Broadway Musical HAMILTON, "I WANNA BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS". People, The Truth Is We Ain't In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lilly White. (Cont'd)</a> A photo posted by Spike Lee (@officialspikelee) on <time datetime="2016-01-18T13:03:42+00:00">Jan 18, 2016 at 5:03am PST</time> </div>
Referencing Martin Luther King's birthday he continued: “It's No Coincidence I'm Writing This As We Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. Dr. King Said 'There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It's Right'.
“For Too Many Years When The Oscars Nominations Are Revealed, My Office Phone Rings Off The Hook With The Media Asking Me My Opinion About The Lack Of African-Americans And This Year Was No Different. For Once, (Maybe) I Would Like The Media To Ask All The White Nominees And Studio Heads How They Feel About Another All White Ballot.”
The Chi-Raq director’s outburst comes days after Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Tessa Thompson (Creed), Mya Taylor (Tangerine), Benicio Del Toro (Sicario) and Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) failed to recieve nominations.
Oscar nominations 2016
Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith was expected to receive a nomination in the Best Actor category for his role in Concussion, also revealed she will not be attending the event at the Dolby Theatre on February 28.
In a series of tweets she explained how “people of colour are always welcomed to give out awards [and] even entertain”, but are “rarely recognised for [their] artistic accomplishments”.
The actress also recorded a two minute video in which she called for change, saying that "it's our responsibility now" to make a change.
We must stand in our power!We must stand in our power.
Posted by Jada Pinkett Smith on Monday, 18 January 2016
She added: “Begging for acknowledgement or even asking diminishes dignity and diminishes power and we are a dignified people and we are powerful, let’s not forget it.
“So let’s let the Academy do them with all grace and love and let’s do us differently.”
Cherryl Boone Isaacs, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president, admitted to Deadline last week that she was “disappointed” by the nominations.
The 88th Academy Awards take place at the Dolby Theatre, California on February 28.
