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Calls for boycott of Oscars grow over diversity of nominees

37 Comments
By JAKE COYLE

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37 Comments
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If an Adam Sandler movie was one of the 5 nominees over Chi-raq or Creed or Straight Outta Compton, I'd totally agree with the boycott. But all those nominated are deserving.

But I do agree that the Academy needs to be changed.

Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Los Angeles Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%. Asians are non-existent.

And Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.

Academy membership shouldn't be a lifetime service. Those still active or new talent should be given a vote.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Not surprised. Being offended is big business these days. Before anyone tells that you African-Americans are shut out of show biz, remember that among the top earners for the past decade have been JayZ, Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce (and they earned every penny they received). Spike Lee has only made mediocre movies and Jada (Will's husband) hasn't starred in anything relevant in decades.

7 ( +16 / -9 )

Well cry me a river!- just a case of sour grapes on their part- When all else fails whup out the Race Card!

6 ( +25 / -19 )

Isn't the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made up of about 6000 members who vote across the different categories after having a set of nominated films sent to them. Maybe it is just not one of those years.

This year it's race. Next year there might be a dearth of sexuality-themed or same-sex themed films and all the people affected by that will have their chance to boycott.

Or can we complain that it is just a lot of old ugly people, or young beautiful people, or non-handicapped or ... can anyone else think of some other groups who get left out? Maybe the non-American, non-white, non-male boss of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Cheryl Boone Isaacs) can tell us? She comes from a marketing background after all.

Geez! It is so hard to not offend anyone these days.

5 ( +13 / -8 )

Star Wars main cast diversity: 36% Black, 3x general US population!

White 7, Black 4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_cast_members#Principal_cast

W 3: Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke W 1 (body) B 1 (voice) : Darth Vader / Anakin B 1: Finn W 1: Rey W 1: Qui-Gonn B 1: Mace W 1: Padme B 1: Lando

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Americans always try to turn things into a race issue, and then they wonder why racism persists.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

No Afro American, No Asians, No Hispanics.......

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Last year's Best Director is Mexican. He will probably again this year.

Straight Outta Compton should have at least been considered but wouldn't go as far as calling it a race driven snub.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

WHO CARES what this idiot says ? Find something WORTH REPORTING on; please.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

A film made by a Mexican is a heavy favorite this year and has the most nominations. His film won best picture and director last year. What about that for diversity?

Besides, boycotting the event will do little for their careers. History will remember the winners not those protesting.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Great ! People should be given awards based upon the colour of their skin. No asians or albinos but you don't hear anyone else complaining. Spike Lee is an out and out racist so any of his comments can be instantly disregarded and the woman sounds like she thinks her husband who made a movie about head trauma in football deserves something more. Make something decent and stop complaining about skin colour.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Isn't this a bit like the school sports days where everyone wins no matter their ability?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Bring back 88 year old Sidney Poitier or cast Morgan Freeman in a blockbuster film. Then maybe . . .

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I'm usually for integration, but as harsh as it sounds there just didn't seem to be a lot of award-worthy performances this past year... from ANY race. I'm inclined to respond to, "Hey! There are no minorities nominated!" with a non-committal, "Yes. And...?"

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The only one who really had a chance this year was Will Smith or the actors from Straight Outta Compton, but being sincere, this year was not so good for afroamerican actors and films, one thing is racism, another is the lack of good afroamerican films. If the next year no latinos are nominated, should have Gael Garcia or Sofia Vergara right to boycott the Oscar event?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

If actors and studios can lobby for nominations and wins, then do the awards really mean anything? I don't think so.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Should you even nominate an actor based on quota rather than actual acting skill?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Ridiculous. It's time the white man demands equal opportunity in the NBA

1 ( +18 / -17 )

I'm curious... Since they seem to blame the Oscar's board for being mostly white and male, maybe they can show us how many demographics showed interest in being part of the board, and their credentials? Something tells me it wasn't some KKK member Demanding the board only hire white males....

1 ( +4 / -3 )

So, if African-Americans are nominated, and told so as well, because they are black and a quota needs to be made, will they be happy about it? I wouldn't be. But you know what WOULD make me happy? people not complaining about the skin colour of who is nominated so long as those nominated top the list. I wouldn't care one wit if it were all black people or Asians nominated and there were no white people.

But seriously -- let the complaints by Lee and Smith be addressed; have the people who choose the nominations, because of the complaints, add a couple of black people all of a sudden. What do you think they're going to say then besides, "You only added them because we complained"? You can't win either way. So, let them sit out and not watch it. Big deal.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

I think the big issue here is that minorities have historically, and are still currently underrepresented in Hollywood today. More often than not, minorities have been cast as the stereotypical sidekick or complete "white-washed" out of roles written for minorities. When changes are made to to include a more colorful cast, the internet loses their minds and fanboys can't even fathom a character being non-white. I do think the whole thing with the Oscars are sour-grapes and I don't believe African Americans (or any other races for that matter) were intentionally left out as some racist gesture. But this whole crying over an award show is drawing attention away from the real issue.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

If anything this blows the whole situation up in completely the wrong way. The Oscars are merely a pat-on-the-back for the privileged few in the industry and doesn't really reflect the public opinion of any given production. It has quite a few biases and always has had, refusing to acknowledge much beyond those that already have the Academy's attention.

If anything, the whole protest about colour prejudice in the Oscars is far less important than colour prejudice in media itself, and tokenism is about the only thing that is likely to come from a protest like this one.

We all know about tokenism, don't we?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What I don't like about this line of complain is that soon we will find nominations based on quotas rather than actual talent, Benicio del Toro is Latin so why throw him with Black People? What about Alejandro González Iñárritu?, anyway, if next year we do have more black films and actors/actresses nominated, then next we will have the complaint from the LGBT community for notg nominating a transsexual actor/actress...

Geez!!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Minorities get nominated in other major awards. Haven't ya noticed it's pretty much mainly just the Oscars that's having this issue.

In the 70s, the Academy had a concerted effort to change their voter pool to get younger. Maybe this time, they'd have a concerted effort to change their voter pool to get more diversity. They had already shifted their voter pool before.

Isn't the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made up of about 6000 members who vote across the different categories after having a set of nominated films sent to them.

Different categories have their own set of "selection committees" that decide who/what gets nominated. Once these selection committees have decided on the nominations, that's when the whole pool of Academy voters get to vote among the nominees on the winners.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If over 90% of the Academy is white, in all probability there is some form of negative bias, prejudice or implicit racism in play. Not to mention racism of the flat out variety.

Studio owners, producers and directors are dictating the narrative. Last year a Sony exec decided that Denzel Washington didn’t have “international appeal” because the international movie viewing audience was/is racist. Sounds more like wishful thinking, projection or transference. How do they know the international movie viewing audience is racist? Did they ask them? Have they conducted market research in all the world’s countries? Making economic and social decisions based on ethnicity and/or skin color is the cause of most of the social unrest in the States today.

Why does this matter in Japan? Racism and discrimination wastes human capital and all its’ present and future potential and contributions. Therefore, it should be eradicated everywhere.

As for “artistic merit”, is it the black actors who are lacking in talent and versatility or is it the roles and productions in which they are cast (or, in most cases, typecast)?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Academy is a joke. A voter admitted they picked Big Hero 6 for best animated film because they didn't even watch the Japanese entry. The lack of diversity is one of many problems. I don't get people who are made at people for complaining, simply because those voicing opinions are black.

Anyway, the importance of these self-congratulatory award shows is declining anyway. The fact that Beast of No Nation was snubbed (Because of it being a Netflix film) is all I need to know about the quality vs. insider glad-handing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” also failed to earn a best picture nomination.

Really? I'm shocked!

Maybe it was that 44 rap song soundtrack that turned people off. Not even Martin Scorsese could pull that off.

By the way, what IS IT with movies these days where there's song every 4 minutes? Watched a movie the other night and there were three songs in ten minutes. I hate that.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Isn't this a bit like the school sports days where everyone wins no matter their ability?

If minorities aren't being selected at other major awards, then maybe

But if it's only the Oscars that's not selecting them, then maybe not

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Well, I must suggest how about inventing category for Oscar for Black actors and actresses? Is it racist? So I don't care who win Oscar or not. It's not my business. The boycott is matter of that person.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Liberal-on-liberal race baiting is quite entertaining. . . .

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

There always are those who get overlooked. Even the year’s biggest movie, Star Wars, The Force Awakens, was blown off the Best Picture list and received just a handful of technical nominations despite efforts to get more popular movies on the list, while the second biggest movie of the year, Jurassic World, was blanked completely. There’s only so much you can do with a slow-moving organization that hands out memberships for life. Still the issue of diversity is one that isn’t going away.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The protest is legit. Let freedom ring.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Fizz, I hate that with the songs too and background sounds like from a pachinko parlor making my hands sweat.

Hollywood was created by brilliant Jewish people known as investors, writes, comedians, actors, actresses, dancers and choreographers to say the least. WEll invested, took chances and succeeded from hard work.

And the Jews are the biggest supporters of human rights. So, the black community really cannot complain about them, but who are on the board of this group. Who controls the nominations?

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Maybe this shouldn't be in this paper...we live in Japan now...this type a thing is ok. The above comments support me on this.

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

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