Jada Pinkett Smith Boycotting the Oscars: Only White Actors Nominated
Will Jada Pinkett Smith boycott the Oscars?
“Jada is pissed,” a pal tells NAUGHTY GOSSIP. “She thinks that if people do not speak out things will never change. Most of the folks that vote are old white men. This has to change. She doesn’t care if speaking out hurts her career, she cannot sit silent anymore. She thinks CHRIS ROCK should pull out as the host too. That would send a very clear loud signal to the Oscar voters that things must change.”
For the second year in a row, the Academy has exclusively nominated white actors for the show’s top honors, thus snubbing Will Smith (Concussion), Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight) and Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), among others.
On Saturday, the 44-year-old actress called out the award show.
“At the Oscars, people of color are always welcomed to give out awards, even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments,” Pinkett Smith wrote on Facebook and Twitter. “Should people of color refrain from participating all together?”
“People can only treat us in the way in which we allow,” the Magic Mike XXL star added. “With much respect in the midst of deep disappointment, J.”
There was immediate backlash on Twitter after the Oscar nominees were announced on Thursday, with objectors using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to point out that the only nomination for the critically acclaimed Straight Outta Compton went to the two white screenwriters, while Creed, a movie directed by a black man and starring a black man, was only recognized for Sylvester Stallone’s performance.
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said that the lack of diversity in this year’s nominations is “disappointing.”
“I hope this isn’t discouraging for anybody, and for filmmakers in particular,” she said at the nominations announcement. “You just keep moving along…We’re going to keep pushing it.”
According to the 2016 Oscars host Chris Rock, he’s actually going to be hosting a different award ceremony.
Not that that’s stopping him from performing his duties. The 50-year-old actor and comedian posted on his Twitter page on Friday a promo video touting three seasons to watch the annual, prestigious ceremony, the top event honoring the best in film, a day after the nominations were announced.
He captioned the video, “The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.”