Last Thursday morning the nominations for the 88th Academy Awards were announced and for the second consecutive year in 5 of the 8 major categories (Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress) an African-American was not nominated. This has cause an uproar in Hollywood mostly from Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett and Will Smith who have chosen to boycott/not attend this year's Oscars. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite has become a global trend and a lot of other celebrities are starting to join the cause. Let me be perfectly clear, The AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Sciences), the governing body over The Oscars is NOT RACIST.
The Academy Awards are based off of what you did in the given year and often prove that you were the best in your filed for that given year. With this year's nominees there were a few African-Americans that had really great shots to be nominated this year, but can you honestly say that those nominees were better than the people who were nominated? You can due to film subjectivity, but if you sit down and look at it tell me who you would replace in the categories? Are you going to replace Matt Damon for Will Smith or Christian Bale for Jason Mitchell or Adam McKay for Ryan Coogler? I mean when you really look at it you have to say that those who were nominated really deserved their nominations and they were chosen as the best in their field for last year.
If you think the Academy is racist then you need to look at the truth. Here are some of the winners and nominees that were African-Americans in the past 10 years....
2005- Terrence Howard nominated for Best Actor
2006- Forrest Whitaker won Best Actor
2006- Will Smith nominated for Best Actor
2006- Eddie Murphy nominated for Best Supporting Actor
2006- Djimon Hounsou nominated for Best Supporting Actor
2007- Ruby Dee nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2008- Viola Davis nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2008- Taraji P. Henson nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2009- Morgan Freeman nominated for Best Actor
2009- Gabourey Sidibe nominated for Best Actress
2009- Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress
2009- Lee Daniels nominated for Best Director
2011- Viola Davis nominated for Best Actress
2011- Octavia Spencer won for Best Supporting Actress
2012- Quvenzhané Wallis nominated for Best Actress
2013- Steve McQueen nominated for Best Director
2013- Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated for Best Actor
2013- Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress
2013- Barkhad Abdi nominated for Best Supporting Actor
That's 19 out of 250 and while that isn't a big number, it still shows that The Academy is willing to nominate African-Americans when they are the best in their field as apparent by 2006 and 2009. You can't honestly sit there and tell me The Academy is racist. I don't see anyone else calling out the other award shows when they don't nominate an African-American, but when it comes to the biggest award show, then you have to cause an uproar because that's the only way you'll get noticed. It's amazing to think that both Spike Lee and Will Smith want to boycott The Oscars when the academy has nominated both of them in the past and they just recently gave Spike Lee an Honorary Oscar for all of his achievements in his directing career.
People need to look at the real issue and that's the lack of diversity in the studio system. There aren't enough African-Americans making the big time decisions for studios and that is leading to less and less roles for African-Americans. Also the studios are the ones that get out and promote their films for The Oscars and if they don't promote an African-American actor/actress/director then The Academy is not going to think anything of it. Last year is a great example for the fact that both David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay should've been nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for their amazing work on Selma, but since the studio (I'm looking at you Paramount) didn't get screeners out (for those that don't know what those are, those are the DVD's that are sent out to members of the press and The Academy who didn't get a chance to see the film in theaters so that they'll look at those films for consideration for any Award shows) in time for The Academy voters, they decided that they shouldn't care if the studio doesn't care. What's also amazing is the fact that people want to call The Academy racist when they have an African-American woman as the president and the host for the 88th Academy Awards is Chris Rock who the last time I checked was African-American.
In conclusion, The Academy is not racist in any sense of the word and to those upset about the nominations need to grow up and celebrate the amazing year we had in film. They need to look at the real issue that is going on which is a lack of diversity within the system. Hopefully you all understand what I am trying to say and have a fun time watching The Oscars because I know I will. Tell me what you think of The Oscars and do you agree or disagree with the argument? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
The Academy Awards are based off of what you did in the given year and often prove that you were the best in your filed for that given year. With this year's nominees there were a few African-Americans that had really great shots to be nominated this year, but can you honestly say that those nominees were better than the people who were nominated? You can due to film subjectivity, but if you sit down and look at it tell me who you would replace in the categories? Are you going to replace Matt Damon for Will Smith or Christian Bale for Jason Mitchell or Adam McKay for Ryan Coogler? I mean when you really look at it you have to say that those who were nominated really deserved their nominations and they were chosen as the best in their field for last year.
If you think the Academy is racist then you need to look at the truth. Here are some of the winners and nominees that were African-Americans in the past 10 years....
2005- Terrence Howard nominated for Best Actor
2006- Forrest Whitaker won Best Actor
2006- Will Smith nominated for Best Actor
2006- Eddie Murphy nominated for Best Supporting Actor
2006- Djimon Hounsou nominated for Best Supporting Actor
2007- Ruby Dee nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2008- Viola Davis nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2008- Taraji P. Henson nominated for Best Supporting Actress
2009- Morgan Freeman nominated for Best Actor
2009- Gabourey Sidibe nominated for Best Actress
2009- Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress
2009- Lee Daniels nominated for Best Director
2011- Viola Davis nominated for Best Actress
2011- Octavia Spencer won for Best Supporting Actress
2012- Quvenzhané Wallis nominated for Best Actress
2013- Steve McQueen nominated for Best Director
2013- Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated for Best Actor
2013- Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress
2013- Barkhad Abdi nominated for Best Supporting Actor
That's 19 out of 250 and while that isn't a big number, it still shows that The Academy is willing to nominate African-Americans when they are the best in their field as apparent by 2006 and 2009. You can't honestly sit there and tell me The Academy is racist. I don't see anyone else calling out the other award shows when they don't nominate an African-American, but when it comes to the biggest award show, then you have to cause an uproar because that's the only way you'll get noticed. It's amazing to think that both Spike Lee and Will Smith want to boycott The Oscars when the academy has nominated both of them in the past and they just recently gave Spike Lee an Honorary Oscar for all of his achievements in his directing career.
People need to look at the real issue and that's the lack of diversity in the studio system. There aren't enough African-Americans making the big time decisions for studios and that is leading to less and less roles for African-Americans. Also the studios are the ones that get out and promote their films for The Oscars and if they don't promote an African-American actor/actress/director then The Academy is not going to think anything of it. Last year is a great example for the fact that both David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay should've been nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for their amazing work on Selma, but since the studio (I'm looking at you Paramount) didn't get screeners out (for those that don't know what those are, those are the DVD's that are sent out to members of the press and The Academy who didn't get a chance to see the film in theaters so that they'll look at those films for consideration for any Award shows) in time for The Academy voters, they decided that they shouldn't care if the studio doesn't care. What's also amazing is the fact that people want to call The Academy racist when they have an African-American woman as the president and the host for the 88th Academy Awards is Chris Rock who the last time I checked was African-American.
In conclusion, The Academy is not racist in any sense of the word and to those upset about the nominations need to grow up and celebrate the amazing year we had in film. They need to look at the real issue that is going on which is a lack of diversity within the system. Hopefully you all understand what I am trying to say and have a fun time watching The Oscars because I know I will. Tell me what you think of The Oscars and do you agree or disagree with the argument? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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