Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are among several celebrities who will be boycotting the Oscars this year because no actors or actresses of color were nominated in any acting category.
This is not a new trend. Hollywood has a huge issue with diversity. Most movies and TV shows hire only white actors and actresses. Think of a movie you saw recently, one that has a bunch of big stars and has a great plot. Then think of how many people of color you saw in that movie.
Most likely it will either be zero or maybe one or two low supporting roles.
For the past two years the Oscars has not nominated a single person of color for an acting role. Many are trying to say that it's not intentional, that these actors did better than others this year. However, looking at the facts, you'll notice the root of the Oscar issue stems back to the lack of diversity in casting.
It's the fact that actors and actresses of color are not being given roles to thrive in. Or roles at all for that matter. The fact that in a recent UCLA study only 10.5 percent of lead actors in film were people of color shows that there is an issue with the business. It's even less for television coming in at 5.1 percent.
Chris Rock is set to host the Oscars this year. Many wondered if he would be pulling out because of the controversy. However Rock is still planning on presenting the award show but has said he will be pointing out the issues through out the night.
Jada Pinkett Smith was the first to call out a boycott on her twitter after the nominations were released. In a three part tweet she said,
"At the Oscars...people of color are always welcomed to give out awards...even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Should people of color refrain from participating all together? People can only treat us in the way in which we allow. With much respect in the midst of deep disappointment."
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith)
Many people are in support of the boycott, including Mark Ruffalo, who was nominated for best supporting role this year. Though he plans to attend, he tweeted about how there was a lack of representation of the acting community at the awards.
The fact is that there was not a lot of roles for people of color this year. That's the real issue here, not the award show. When there aren't opportunities in the first place, it's hard to win awards for being the best.
The Oscar debate should be a wake up call to everyone in the business. There needs to be a change in how things are being done in Hollywood and nationwide for the entertainment business. More roles need to be created that reflect our countries' diversity.
There are more than enough people aspiring to be actors, actresses, directors, editors and basically any other position in the entertainment industry that would love an opportunity. However when you look at the statistics it comes out mostly white and male.
Since the boycott and the #oscarssowhite started trending, the academy has said it is going to try and change their makeup to be more representative of the community. The Academy said that they are planning to double the number of people of color and women as members by 2020 to balance out the extremely disproportionate representation.
