‘Selma’ Star Gets Snubbed, Demands ‘Radical Change’ to ‘White Oscars’


No Blacks Up For Consideration

The same could be said for the election of Barack Obama. While most Republicans and conservatives were unhappy with the outcome of the election, no one suggested that the system had to changed because 90% of blacks voted for Obama. One person, one vote is that most fair of political systems, and though there can be disagreement about some of the tricks that are played in counting the votes or generating the votes, it is generally acknowledged that one person, one vote is the fairest way to assess the popularity or attractiveness of a candidate or a proposal.

However, in the case of the Academy Awards this year, many of the black artists or other industry personnel are decrying the results because there are no African Americans in consideration for the top twenty Oscar nominations in the four main categories. That is seen as a problem, but it results from the fact that academy members voted and indicated their favorite picks.

There may be blacks who think they should have been nominated, or feel entitled to be in the running, but the Academy has no accommodation for an affirmative action category with the Oscars. The rule is simply, get the votes if you want to get the award. You cannot force Academy members to vote for something they do not think merits the award. But the whining continues.

British actor David Oyelowo, who was snubbed from the Oscars consideration last year for his role as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, is calling for a “radical and timely change” in the academy’s nominating process.

Oyelowo addressed the the growing controversy while presenting an award to Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs at the King Legacy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night.

“The Academy has a problem,” said the 39-year-old. “It’s a problem that needs to be solved.”

“A year ago, I did a film called Selma, and after the Academy Awards, Cheryl invited me to her office to talk about what went wrong then. We had a deep and meaningful conversation. For 20 opportunities to celebrate actors of color, actresses of color, to be missed last year is one thing; for that to happen again this year is unforgivable.”

Describing the Oscars as the “epitome” of “artistic endeavor within the filmmaking community,” the actor said, “This institution doesn’t reflect its president, and it doesn’t reflect this room. I am an Academy member, and it doesn’t reflect me, and it doesn’t reflect this nation.”

“The Academy is an institution in which they all say radical and timely change cannot happen quickly,” he said. “It better happen quickly. The law of this country can change in a matter of months. It better come on. The Oscars is on February 28.

Boone Issacs announced Monday that she was “heartbroken and frustrated,” by the lack of racial diversity, and promised “dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership.”

“In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond,” she said.

It sounds like an affirmative action program may very well be put into place in the academy. Several black actors, including Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are threatening to boycott the awards show this year, and insisting that movies like Straight Out of Compton should be a top contender, even though it did not get the votes. Maybe in the future the black lobby will be able to game the system and to insist on a guaranteed 25% of the awards going to black actors, regardless of the actual popularity of their films.

Hollywood is full of liberals who would see the benefit of such a program, though they would cry like a stuck pig if their film was knocked out of the running to make way for a less qualified film. For now, let the whiners boycott. I am more interested in seeing the best films, as voted on by academy. One person, one vote works for me, though I am sure that at some point common sense will fail and the demands of the entitled minority will prevail.

But for now, on with the show!

Source: Breitbart.com



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