Why Are Oscars So White
Why are the Oscars so white?
Marialuisa Rincon
After noticing that none of the 20 actors nominated for Oscars last year were of color, Maryland activist April Reign tweeted, “#oscarssowhite they asked to touch my hair.” The hashtag went viral within days and the memes and jokes that stemmed from it served to highlight the lack of diversity that has become a hallmark of academy nominations.
It opened up a conversation—first, between Reign and her followers—and later, among the public, celebrities and the nominees themselves about the absence of inclusion in Academy Award nominations.
For the second year in a row, all of the nominees are white.
The internet was in an uproar almost immediately after the nominations were announced this year. …show more content…
This is about the children that are going to sit down and watch this show and are not going to see themselves represented.” Roberts added that he also would not attend or watch the award show on TV.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African American, revealed that the present voting body was a whopping 76 percent men and 94 percent white—a figure, she said is “not representative of the industry itself.”
In response to the controversy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday that in a unanimous decision, they would be implementing new measures in their voting and membership practices to avoid this from happening again.
In a statement, Isaacs says that though they have been actively increasing diversity for the past four years, the changes are not coming fast enough and with the new measures, the Academy is working to double of women and diverse members by 2020.
The number of members whose involvement in the industry has waned in recent years, possibly tainting the voting pool. In the future, members will be granted lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms. In each of the terms, they must demonstrate being active in Hollywood at least once. Past and future nominees and winners will also be given lifetime
Marialuisa Rincon
After noticing that none of the 20 actors nominated for Oscars last year were of color, Maryland activist April Reign tweeted, “#oscarssowhite they asked to touch my hair.” The hashtag went viral within days and the memes and jokes that stemmed from it served to highlight the lack of diversity that has become a hallmark of academy nominations.
It opened up a conversation—first, between Reign and her followers—and later, among the public, celebrities and the nominees themselves about the absence of inclusion in Academy Award nominations.
For the second year in a row, all of the nominees are white.
The internet was in an uproar almost immediately after the nominations were announced this year. …show more content…
This is about the children that are going to sit down and watch this show and are not going to see themselves represented.” Roberts added that he also would not attend or watch the award show on TV.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African American, revealed that the present voting body was a whopping 76 percent men and 94 percent white—a figure, she said is “not representative of the industry itself.”
In response to the controversy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday that in a unanimous decision, they would be implementing new measures in their voting and membership practices to avoid this from happening again.
In a statement, Isaacs says that though they have been actively increasing diversity for the past four years, the changes are not coming fast enough and with the new measures, the Academy is working to double of women and diverse members by 2020.
The number of members whose involvement in the industry has waned in recent years, possibly tainting the voting pool. In the future, members will be granted lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms. In each of the terms, they must demonstrate being active in Hollywood at least once. Past and future nominees and winners will also be given lifetime