Like Will and Jada, I am boycotting the 2016 Academy Awards. And all Academy Awards from here on out if things do not change, because this year is no different than any of the years before it.
Let's take a spin through the best picture nominations since 2010, shall we? Disclosure - my source for the list of nominees is Wikipedia but it has never steered me wrong before. Or you know...not often. There have been 52 nominees for best picture since 2010. How many of these starred a person of colour or had what I would personally consider to be a diverse cast?
2010
2011
- The Help
2012
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Django Unchained
2013
- 12 Years a Slave
- Captain Phillips
2014
- Selma
2015
Of the FIFTY TWO nominees for best picture since 2010, SIX have starred a person of colour or had a diverse cast.
FOUR were specifically about slavery or the civil rights movement - The Help, Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, Selma.
ONE starred a Somali-American actor as the villain of the story - Captain Phillips.
ONE portrayed extreme poverty among mostly African Americans in the deep south of Louisiana - Beasts of the Southern Wild.
In 2016 as a black actor, the only Oscar worthy parts available to you are those where you must play a slave, a villain, or a person fighting for your civil rights?!?! Really?! Not to mention that none of these movies star Latino or Asian American actors!
What can you even say? So I am going to watch Chris Rock's monologue and then turn off the television (I just finished watching it and have to say - fantastic that he did not briefly mention the issue but just stared it in the face the entire time. And to me, even though it was Chris Rock, the monologue wasn't funny. Because it ISN'T funny).
Heaven help us. Sheesh.
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