On January 14 at 5:30 a.m., the nominees for the 88th Academy Awards were announced. Movie buffs everywhere anticipated the announcement to see whether their favorite actors and films had been chosen to potentially receive the honorary Oscar.
Two days later, Jada Pinkett-Smith called out the Academy Awards for their lack of diversity of in their nominee decisions on Twitter.
“At the Oscars… people of color are always welcomed to give out awards… even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments,” she said. “Should people of color refrain from participating all together?” she continued. “People can only treat us in the way in which we allow. With much respect in the midst of deep disappointment, J.”
This caused a quick uproar within social media. Pinkett-Smith called for a boycott and actors like Lupita Nyong’o, George Clooney, and Tyrese Gibson responded with much support for change.
Supporters of the boycott do not plan on attending or watching the awards.
While there has been much support for Pinkett-Smith, some actors have criticized her words and actions. Actress Charlotte Rampling commented that the boycott was “anti-white.” Rampling told French radio station Europe 1 that the boycott “… is racist against whites.”
She went on to state the following: “One can never really know, but sometimes maybe black actors did not deserve to make the final list.”
This is the second year in a row that all 20 acting nominees at the Oscars have been white.
Race was not the only thing called to attention in this year’s nominee choices, either. Five directors and 14 screenwriters were nominated this year. All nominees are men.
According to a recent Los Angeles Times study, Oscar voters are approximately 94 percent Caucasian and 77 percent male. Blacks make up about 2 percent of the academy with Latinos coming up last with less than 2 percent. Voters have a median age of 62 and only 14 percent of all academy voters are under the age of 50.
Throughout this controversy, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, released an official statement about the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees: “While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion.”
Isaacs furthered by stating, “The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership.”
On the website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Board of Governors reported that their “goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020 by unanimous vote.”
The board aims to do this by making “a sweeping series of substantive changes designed to make the Academy’s membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse.”
The Academy Awards will air on ABC on February 28 at 7 p.m. EST.