Jada Pinkett Smith debates boycotting the Oscars over only white actors being nominated

[Teh One Who Knocks]

FOX 411




For the second year in a row, the Academy has only nominated white actors and Jada Pinkett Smith is irked.

The 44-year-old actress aired her feelings on Facebook, even mulling a boycott of the award show.

"At the Oscars, people of color are always welcomed to give out awards, even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments," Pinkett Smith wrote on Facebook and Twitter. "Should people of color refrain from participating all together?"

"People can only treat us in the way in which we allow," the "Magic Mike XXL" star added. "With much respect in the midst of deep disappointment, J."

“She thinks that if people do not speak out things will never change,” reports Rob Shuter of naughtygossip.com. “Most of the folks that vote are old white men. This has to change. She doesn’t care if speaking out hurts her career, she cannot sit silent anymore."

When the nominations were announced snubbing Will Smith (“Concussion”), Idris Elba “Beasts of No Nation”), and Samuel L. Jackson (“The Hateful Eight”), there was an immediate backlash on Twitter.

Objectors used the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to highlight the fact that the only nomination for the critically acclaimed “Straight Outta Compton” when to the two white screenwriters, while “Creed,” a movie starring a black man and directed by a black man, only recognized Sylvester Stallone’s performance.

[DemonGeminiX]

If your performances were worth a damn, you would have been nominated.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

If your performances were worth a damn, you would have been nominated.

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok.

[Goofy]

Awww, what a shame, poor Jada

[fricnjay]

STFU Women!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_and_nominees

[Muddy]

Do it!! Dont ever come back!

[RBP]

STFU Women!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_and_nominees

You expect facts to alter arguments about racial politics? Do we even live in the same country?

[Pony]

here's a short list...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_and_nominees

[Teh One Who Knocks]

FOX 411 and The Associated Press




As calls for a boycott of this year's Academy Awards over the all-white list of acting nominees intensifies, the academy's president issued a statement late Monday promising a more intense drive to diversify the largely white, male voting body.

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs's statement came after director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith each announced that they would not be attending the Feb. 28 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?!"

Lee made a point of writing in his post that the Academy Awards is only part of the problem in an industry with deep-rooted diversity issues. In his Governors Awards speech, Lee said "It's easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio."

"The Academy Awards is not where the `real' battle is," wrote Lee on Monday. "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."

In a video message on Facebook, Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith wasn't nominated for his performance in the NFL head trauma drama "Concussion," said it was time for people of color 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 by mid-Monday afternoon.

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 percent from the year prior, a six-year low.

Isaacs has made a point of presenting a more inclusive show this year. The Feb. 28 broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by "Django Unchained" producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill.

"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 by mid-Monday afternoon.

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 percent from the year prior, a six-year low.

Isaacs has made a point of presenting a more inclusive show this year. The Feb. 28 broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by "Django Unchained" producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill.

The #Oscars. The White BET Awards. https://t.co/8qjLR0uysI

— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) January 15, 2016

The website NaughtyGossip reported Monday that Rock had come under pressure to pull out of hosting the show, but had not agreed to do so.

When Oscar nominations were announced Thursday, Isaacs acknowledged she was "disappointed" that all 20 acting nominees were again white and promised to "continue the conversation" on diversity. Isaacs has worked to diversify membership for the academy, which a 2012 study by the Los Angeles Times found is overwhelming white and male.

But on Monday, Isaacs was more explicit and 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 Monday night. "The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup 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."

Many awards handicappers expected nominations for Idris Elba of "Beasts of No Nation" and Benicio Del Toro for "Sicario." The N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton" also failed to earn a best picture nomination, despite some predictions it would. Ryan Coogler's acclaimed Rocky sequel "Creed" scored only a nomination only 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 hashtag "OscarsSoWhite," created last year, was quickly resurrected online following the nominations. Rev. Al Sharpton -- who last year met with former Sony head Amy Pascal following leaked emails that some viewed as racist -- on Friday lambasted the academy.

"Hollywood is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher up you get the whiter it gets and this year's Academy Awards will be yet another Rocky Mountain Oscar," said Sharpton.

[DemonGeminiX]

Being nominated for an award doesn't fall under equal opportunity provisions. You actually have to earn it. Apparently, this year, y'all haven't. Score some better roles that better showcase your acting abilities or go take some acting classes, improve your acting abilities, score some roles and better luck next year. Now shut the fuck up and go sulk in your black power gathering center like the little whiny racist bitches that you really are.

[Muddy]

Yasssss!!! Boycott!!

[fricnjay]

I am so tired of this racists entitlement attitude. I owe no black man or women a damn thing. All this kind of talk does is create more division not unity. It would be different if no black man or women had ever won an award but thats no the case.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Being nominated for an award doesn't fall under equal opportunity provisions. You actually have to earn it. Apparently, this year, y'all haven't. Score some better roles that better showcase your acting abilities or go take some acting classes, improve your acting abilities, score some roles and better luck next year. Now shut the fuck up and go sulk in your black power gathering center like the little whiny racist bitches that you really are.

Yasssss!!! Boycott!!

I am so tired of this racists entitlement attitude. I owe no black man or women a damn thing. All this kind of talk does is create more division not unity. It would be different if no black man or women had ever won an award but thats no the case.

Now please excuse me while I go watch the Miss Black America pageant followed by the Black Music Awards and the Latin Grammys on the Black Entertainment Television network

[Muddy]

I am so tired of this racists entitlement attitude. I owe no black man or women a damn thing. All this kind of talk does is create more division not unity. It would be different if no black man or women had ever won an award but thats no the case.

They don't get it, bro.. I'm not sure they ever will.