Michael B. Jordan for his role in “Creed”, O’shea Jackson Jr. for “Straight Outta Compton”, Idris Elba for “Beasts of No Nation”, Benicio del Toro for “Sicario” and Will Smith for “Concussion” are a few names of actors of color whose name will not precede "...and the Oscar goes to..." this year during the 2016 Oscars premiering February 28 on ABC. In fact, for a second year in a row actors of color, aside from The Weeknd who was nominated for his original song "Earned It" and writers of "Straight Outta Compton", will be snubbed this year at the 2016 Oscars after the Oscar Nominations were revealed earlier this week. Ironically, this was predicted a year ago when the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite went viral after 2015’s nomination list were revealed with the obvious absence of actors of color in the 20 slots for the four acting categories.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science president Cheryl Boone Isaacs responded after this year’s announcements, “I really was disappointed. What is important is that this entire conversation of diversity is here and that we are talking about it. And I think we will not just talk because people will say, “Well don’t just talk. You gotta do. Talking gets to the doing, and we are going to do….It is an industry-wide situation and we need to continue this conversation. We need to bring in new talent, to nourish the talent, to allow it to flourish and to give us all the diversity of storytelling which is what the motion picture business is all about.”
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We must not ignore the fact that the Academy consists of old white men who based on their age don’t enjoy watching, nor awarding, people of color for exceptional roles in film. We also can’t ignore that the last black actor who received an Oscar was two years ago when Lupita Nyong’o was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her role in “12 Years a Slave”.
Hollywood’s lack of diversity is largely reflected in the continuous omissions of great actors and movies of color at award shows such as, “The Oscars’, “The Golden Globes”, and “The Screen Actors Guild Awards”.
It is obvious the lack of diversity throughout these Award shows. So obvious, that actors, producers, directors, and the audiences themselves have chosen to speak out about it. In fact, "Master on None" star Aziz Ansari tweeted his anger that Idris Elba, Michael B Jordan, and Jason Mitchell weren't nominated for an Oscar. Carson Daly voiced his support for "Straight Outta Compton", which featured five black male leads, but only two white screenwriters got nominated for it.
Chris Rock, who is the host of this year’s Oscars, just might voice the concern of such lack of diversity seeing how he will be in the best position to do so. As a backstory, Chris hosted the 77th Oscars in 2005, where in his opening monologue he spoke about the lack of diversity with the nominations. A decade later we are expecting him to make a comical, however, truthful monologue about this issue today in what he refers to as the "White BET Awards".
In fact, he should question why Will Smith was snubbed for his role in “Concussion” which is possibly his best performance since “Pursuit of Happiness”. Or why O’shea Jackson Jr. wasn’t recognized for his breakout role in “Straight Outta Compton” that made box office history in one night. Also, how Sylvester Stallone got nominated for a role that wouldn’t possibly have been awarded without the presence of Michael B. Jordan in “Creed”.
Now, before I go on a tangent about how great these movies were, we need to focus on the real problem here, which is the need for Hollywood to start acknowledging the great work of people of color in the film industry. Appointing a black president for the Academy isn’t going to fix this problem either. Should we also boycott the awards by not tuning our televisions to the broadcasting channel's like Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are doing? Is it truth in what Jada (tweets pictured above) says that we are not recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Do all people of color need to refrain from participating in programs that don't acknowledge our work? How will Hollywood begin to acknowledge the great work of actors of color more widely and publicly? Will they continue to only award those that send a negative image of people of color like Cookie Lyons from "Empire"? Will they continue to award movies the public has never heard of instead of awarding those that are box office masterpieces?
