Black stars lead boycott of the Oscars over shortlist snub

Black actors and directors should consider boycotting the Oscars, two of Hollywood’s most influential voices have said, in response to the failure to nominate ethnic minorities for this year’s awards.

For the second consecutive year no black actors were nominated for the main acting prizes, with the British actor Idris Elba overlooked for Beasts of No Nation and Will Smith passed over for his role in Concussion.

Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Smith and star of The Matrix series, said she would not be attending or watching at home, and urged others to follow her boycott, while Spike Lee, the director, said he too would not be attending the Feb 28 ceremony.

“Begging for acknowledgement or even asking diminishes dignity and diminishes power — and we are a dignified people and we are powerful, let’s not forget it,” she said on Facebook. “So let’s let the Academy do the awards with all grace and love, and let’s do us differently.”

In a social media post, Lee said he “cannot support” the “lily white” Oscars. Noting that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr Day, the Malcolm X director said he was fed up: “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all.” The show is hosted by the black comedian Chris Rock, and The Weeknd, a black singer, is performing.

Rock made light of the controversy, however, sharing a new Oscars promotional video on Twitter, captioning it “The White BET (Black Entertainment Television) Awards.”

Two days later, Don Cheadle, nominated for an Oscar in Hotel Rwanda, replied jokingly: “Yo, Chris. Come check me out at #TheOscars this year. They got me parking cars on G level.”

The hashtag “Oscars So White” was trending on Twitter after Michael B.Jordan was not nominated for Creed, the much-lauded Sylvester Stallone film in the Rocky series, and the many young, first-time actors in Straight Outta Compton were also snubbed.

“We can’t really stress on it. But all we can do is go back and sharpen our tools and produce them something they can’t deny,” said O’Shay Jackson Jr, at Sunday’s Critics’ Choice Awards. The son of rapper Ice Cube, who he plays in Straight Outta Compton, was tipped for recognition at the ceremony.

Cherryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, who is black and campaigns for diversity in the industry, said last week that she was “disappointed.”

Several Oscar categories did feature ethnic minority nominees, including documentaries, shorts, feature-animation, costume design, hair and make-up and editing.

But Lee said it was not enough, and the director, was incensed. “How is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the actor category are white?” he said on his Instagram page. “We can’t act?! WTF!!”