Boycotting the Oscars

[Pea-n-Me]

Whoopie Goldberg weighs in. She's still going.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/whoopi-goldberg-oscars-diversity-black-857098

 

[Christine]

And I think that issue is because white people are most likely not going to go to a film that stars, let's say, a film that centers around a black family. Again, there are many exceptions to this.

I'm not really talking about whole films that are centered around blacks. Just regular films that have black people in them. I'm trying to think of a movie to use as an example (but I haven't been to the movies in awhile and when I last went, Kevin Hart was a major actor in the film!!). Anyway, let's say you have a "white centric" film that appeals to white people--I just don't see why these lead roles or even support roles can't be a minority person. I think that is not done enough.

 

[lovegrumpy]

I stopped watching all the awards shows years ago. It just became to boring.

 

[Mizzoufan]

She was actually the first black actress to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series. That was in 2015. She does not have an Oscar.

For some reason I thought she won for the help

 

[Chocolate Cake]

I just don't see why these lead roles or even support roles can't be a minority person. I think that is not done enough.

I agree.

 

[Kellykins1218]

For some reason I thought she won for the help

Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think it's ridiculous. If you demand more of any award go to any specific group, you cheapen the future awards to that group. From the point of the boycott on, everyone who wins will wonder if they really earned their award or if it was "given" to them to make the Academy look good.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress

thank you

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think the Oscars are silly and I could care less about stars BUT I think the fact that a back actress has won Leading Female once in the 80+ years and it was 15 years ago says something about the industry. I don't think anyone is asking for a participation trophy here- just an equal chance of getting recognized.

Whites (including white "Hispanics") are 77% of the U.S. Population while blacks are 13%. The best roles are going to be reserved for whites 99% of the time unless it's a case where the part requires a minority. Yes, it's been 15 years since a black woman won lead actress, but honestly how many "wow" performances among lead black actresses have we seen since? It's just a matter of numbers. Same reason no white man has been named NBA MVP in 8 years.

 

[mayonegg]

I think they have a point, but I feel like they should be lobbying for better roles for minorities in general instead of focusing on the oscars. I feel like if there was more diversity of race in films in general, there would be more minorities up for awards in general. If you think about it from a numbers perspective, it makes sense that only white people get nominated because most of the good Oscar-bait roles are played by white people. If you change that, you might see more diversity in the nominations. Which isn't to say that there's no bias when the nominations are made, but it will be a lot harder for the academy to get away with lack of diversity on the roster if there was more diversity in films to begin with.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I'm not really talking about whole films that are centered around blacks. Just regular films that have black people in them.

Chiwetel Ejiofor played Vincent Kapoor in The Martian. The interesting thing about that part though is that in the book, his named was Venkat and he was Indian.
Lebron James plays himself in Trainwreck
Samuel L. Jackson as "the black guy" in various and sundry things.
You have a few minority actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Rhodie, Falcon, Nick Fury)


But the fact that I could only name like 5 or 6 is a problem. Although I'm sure there are others I am either not thinking about or in movies I haven't seen.

 

[SMD]

I think the Oscars are silly and I could care less about stars BUT I think the fact that a back actress has won Leading Female once in the 80+ years and it was 15 years ago says something about the industry. I don't think anyone is asking for a participation trophy here- just an equal chance of getting recognized.

This is a good point. It's easy to dismiss the Oscars because we mostly know the industry as being populated by rich and famous people, but imagine this was some other industry. If you worked in an industry that you knew to be diverse, and saw that those recognized were primarily one race or one sex, when would it be time to question the how much the diversity of those running the industry reflects those working in it. The issue that people who are calling this boycott have is with the academy. There is much more recognition of people of color in many of the guild specific awards and other voting groups, it is just the academy that hasn't been keeping pace. Many academy voters vote for other awards too, so I can understand why people are beginning to question why these movies get recognized elsewhere and dismissed by the one group that hasn't diversified to reflect the industry.

 

[phorsenuf]

I find it to be very hypocritical considering there are the BET Awards. No Whites are nominated for those, but I don't see nay stars complaining over that.

 

[VillainFavs]

Wow. "Aunt Viv" was a bit over the top. She sounds a bit bitter about Will Smith's success.

Not sure why Straight Outta Compton's producer is saying anything, that movie was nominated for writing. I haven't seen it so can't judge but maybe its just not "best picture" material.

I agree this is a hot mess and Jada should have just kept quiet. They have had more success than most Americans of any race so she has NOTHING to fuss about. If she wants Will to win an Oscar maybe she needs to step up and help him find award worthy roles.

I haven't seen most of the movies either so can't really comment either. But the point with this Straight Outta Compton is that the only nomination it received is for the writing--and the writers were WHITE. No best movie, director, actors, etc--who were all black. But the white writers did get a nomination. Not agreeing/disagreeing, just stating the argument that's being made.

 

[eliza61]

Again this is how out of touch the rich spoiled Hollywood Stars are.
Do they really think the average American gives a rats behind about some rich people award show?

Jada sits there in her multi million dollar mansion crying and whining her husband did not get nominated. Poor baby we feel bad for you.....not!

Amen!!

LOL, I'm african American and I can tell you, of all the things we could be focusing on, I give less than a rats you know what about the Oscars.
I find it hysterical that Jada has issues considering her son just got some big fancy ad campaign job for louie vutton based solely on who he is.
How many models and actresses out there struggling to break into a very competitive business got passed over for him.

 

[wilkeliza]

I find it to be very hypocritical considering there are the BET Awards.

You do know the BET awards are relatively new and were created by the Black Entertainment Television group due to the lack of awards given to minorities at other awards shows. They only started in 2001 so saying the BET Awards somehow makes the lack of diversity at the Oscars okay doesn't really mean much once you look at the full picture.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave. Apparently "Best Supporting" Oscars don't count *eye roll*

 

[MickeySP]

I just love the irony. All the Hollywood left leaning liberals getting called out for racism - just perfect!! Do as I say not as I do I guess.

Now back to

 

[Chocolate Cake]

Amen!!

LOL, I'm african American and I can tell you, of all the things we could be focusing on, I give less than a rats you know what about the Oscars.
I find it hysterical that Jada has issues considering her son just got some big fancy ad campaign job for louie vutton based solely on who he is.
How many models and actresses out there struggling to break into a very competitive business got passed over for him.

Amen! And why did Jada wait until her husband was NOT nominated? If she cared so much about this great injustice, she would have boycotted before they even knew the results of who was nominated. Right?

 

[wilkeliza]

I don't normally use Wikipedia as a source but for some reason their awards sections are usually pretty accurate. This is just black Academy award nominations and wins. You can see the gaps where there was no black nominee. I'm not 100% sure if every year had a nominee who deserved to be there but some did. You can also see that it appears they are good enough Supporting but not good enough for lead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_Academy_Award_winners_and_nominees