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Acadamy Awards "too white", says head.

Academy Award head calls for change in the Oscars due to a predominantly white winner base and a 'lack of diversity'. This follows a recent boycott of the 'lily white' Oscars awards ceremony by Spike Lee and Jada Pickett Smith. Actions are now allegedly being taken by executives in attempts to boost the presence of visible minorities in the Academy and those winning awards.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/oscars-boycott-diversity-1.3408745
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35348062

I don't think this sets a very good precedent. Are future Oscar winners going to be winning because they genuinely deserved it, or will they simply be satisfying a quota? Furthermore, why is underrepresentation necessarily an indication of a deliberate white bias? Has it crossed anybody's mind that, perhaps, those 'lily white' actors won because they deserved to? Are we going to go through this every single time a person of colour or homosexual doesn't win something?

Perhaps I'm wrong, and there really is a racial bias at the Academy Awards, but I can't help but feel that these actions are going to have disappointing consequences.
Reply 1
Avatar for StormBrew
StormBrew
Blacks have BET awards

Also here's a double standard. You wouldn't say the awards are too Jewish would you? that would be anti-Semitism. But we all know Hollywood is very Jewish. Not bashing that, I just pointing out that one group of people are fine to attack and others aren't.
(edited 8 years ago)
Perhaps you're right and these white actors really do deserve to win. Except...this has been happening for years. And every time, there is a noticeable lack of POC nominated. Think of all the POC snubbed this year - Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, the movie Straight Outta Compton. Creed was written and directed by a black man, and starred a black man yet the only nom was for a white guy. There's obviously a racial bias.
Original post by StormBrew
Blacks have BET awards.


:facepalm2:

Have more stupid words ever been said, I wonder.

The Oscars are not the white equivalent of the BET awards. The Oscars are for everyone.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 4
Avatar for Colmans
Colmans
11
Did anybody read the links?

Reporters spoke to thousands of Academy members and their representatives to confirm the identities of more than 5,100 voters - more than 89% of the voting members.
They found that:
Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male. Black members make up about 2% of the Academy, and Latino members less than 2%.
Oscar voters have a median age of 62. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.
Some of the Academy's 15 branches are almost exclusively white and male. Caucasians currently make up 90% or more of every Academy branch except actors, whose membership is 88% white.
Men make up more than 90% of five branches, including cinematography and visual effects.

And
Oyelowo also made the point that two of the top films at the North American box office this week are led by black actors.
"We have a situation whereby currently the biggest movie in the world and of all time (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) is led by a black man. That film was knocked off the top spot this weekend by a film led by two black men, Ride Along 2. The biggest TV show on the planet is led by black people, Empire."

It is difficult to believe that an electorate that is so different to the population of current actors or cinema goers does not have systematic bias in its opinions. You see that in a national electorate where age and gender affect voting intentions. It doesn't necessarily imply prejudice but it may mean that their opinions may be skewed.

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