As the Academy Award Nominations were announced, there was, once again, outrage over the lack of diversity in the nominees list this year. The lack of any diversity of the nominees is very disheartening since movies like, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, and Jason Mitchell starring in "Straight Outta Compton", Michael B. Jordan from "Creed", Idris Elba in "Beasts of No Nation" and Will Smith in "Concussion" were exceptional movies and actors. As the news of yet another all-white Oscars for the second year surfaced, the Black communities are in an uproar. This included Jada Pinkett Smith who made a video on Martin Luther King Jr. day regarding of boycotting the Oscars. In it, she spoke on the Black community coming together to love one another before we ask other races to accept the Black community. She also stated that the Black community should not beg and that doing so diminishes our dignity. Towards the end of her video, she stated that the Academy has every right to choose who they want and their choices are respected.
Soon after a response video surfaced from Janet Hubert, who played Aunt Viv from the popular show, "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" for three years. Her video started with a sense of disdain towards the actress Jada Pinkett Smith and took some jabs towards Will Smith, accusing him of being upset for not being nominated. She also said that Jada Smith was basically his spokesperson on the issue. On the other hand, she stated that there are other dire needs other than the Oscars that are more important, such as the killings of young blacks, jobs, hunger and other worldly problems. As Hubert does have valid points in her argument, discarding the lack of diversity in the Oscars once again is as a present issue as the others.
While watching both videos, I understood both points of view and from what I took from Jada Pinkett Smith's video, it was not about her being upset that her husband did not make it, or that Will Smith wasn't brave enough to say what he wanted to say. I viewed Jada Smith's video as her own response and trying to reach out and send a positive message since it was indeed Martin Luther King Day. In her video, she seemed to be very respectable to the Academy and respecting of their choices and towards Chris Rock, who will be hosting the awards this year. However, in Janet Hubert's video, there was a sense of hostility in her voice and body language. As people can see, she was not here for what Jada had to say in her video. Hubert took into account that if black actors and actresses take a stand, they are risking their careers, and she also talked about valid points on other issues that are prominent such as the killings of black youths. There are sour notes in her argument as she accused Will Smith of not defending a salary issue on the at the time during the "Prince of Bel-Air" and the Smiths being a part of Hollywood in oppressing other black actors and actresses with their production company. It seemed that her video was on a right path but turned personal down the road.
The issue of the lack of diversity is steadily growing as more comments rise about the Oscars as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Isaacs acknowledged the all-white nominees this year, and is trying to implement more diversity into the awards. Other actors and actresses, such as Lupita Nyong'o and director Spike Lee, are upset with the news that the Oscar nominees are all-white. Chris Rock, this year's host of the Oscars, tweeted that "It's like the white BET awards". Both of the videos, however, stated that the Oscars have a problem with diversity; the only question is how is the Academy going to make changes for the future?
