The controversy has been the subject of a Saturday Night Live skit from January 23, and #OscarsSoWhite has been trending on social media. In response to the alleged prejudice, many celebrities including Spike Lee and Jada and Will Smith will be boycotting the ceremony. Many have urged this years host, Chris Rock, who called this year’s Oscars the “white BET (Black Entertainment Television) Awards” to skip as well. However, Rock will still be attending the awards and has instead chosen to rewrite his entire monologue in light of the controversy. Kevin Hart, Whoopi Goldberg, Benicio Del Toro, The Weeknd and Pharrell Williams also will be presenting or performing.
While many celebrities are outraged, others are not seeing the issue. Stacey Dash from “Clueless” is receiving criticism for comparing the Oscar’s to the BET awards, and suggesting an end to black history month.
“If we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black,” Dash said. “If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard.”
The exact same thing happened at last year’s awards, and many people are beginning to claim this is no accident by the Academy. Despite the Academy having a black President, the actual voting committee of around 6,000 members is reportedly 94% white. The Academy’s president announced plans to double the number of female and minority members by 2020.
According to the Economist, the issue isn’t necessarily with black actors, but with all other minorities. While black actors and actresses are represented nearly proportionately to their presence in the U.S. population, many other backgrounds are drastically unrepresented at the Oscars.
“Blacks are 12.6% of the American population, and 10% of Oscar nominations since 2000 have gone to black actors. But just 3% of nominations have gone to their Hispanic peers (16% of the population), 1% to those with Asian backgrounds, and 2% to those of other heritage” The Economist stated.
Many claim that the issues are with Hollywood and the entire industry as a whole, not the Academy. In other words, there are not enough highly successful films with minorities in the lead roles.
“You can change the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?” Viola Davis said to ET Online.
This is not to say that there were no highly acclaimed black or other minority films made this year. Notable snubs include Michael B. Jordan for “Creed,” Will Smith for “Concussion” and the cast of “Straight Outta Compton.”
The Oscars are February 28, and the controversy will likely continue. For many, this is about more than the Academy Awards, it is a look at racial relations throughout the United States.
