In light of yesterday being the Martin Luther King holiday, a few African-American celebrities have called for the boycott of the Oscars by African-American celebrities. I think this would be a bad idea on so many levels.
First off when you refuse to go somewhere because somehow things didn't go your way and you're going to sit in a corner like a child and stomp your feet because you did not get your way this year. African-Americans are not the only group who was excluded from Oscar nominations this year. When for instance is the last time that an Asian, Latino or Native American actor has been nominated for an Oscar or even been involved in Hollywood as more than scenery in a movie and I don't see any of these groups asking for more screen time or threatening not to attend the ceremony and they have been far more slighted than we have. If you want to talk about justice start with these groups first. African-Americans as a group are no more entitled to Oscar nods than any of these groups . We as a group have a tendency to wear entitlement on our sleeves and expect the world to bend over backwards for us irregardless of the quality of the product.
This brings me to my second point and that is there are a number of white actors, directors, writers and producers who have not been nominated or won Oscars Leonardo DiCaprio and David Russell immediately come to mind and I don't see either one of them threatening not to come to the ceremony. Granted, they have both been nominated for awards but they have never won. There have been countless other white people in the film industry who have also been slighted and they have not threatened absence. Jada Pinkett-Smith and Spike Lee need to get over themselves and do what everyone else does who wants to either win ore be nominated for an Oscar campaign and make the contacts necessary to get them into the winner's circle. We also have to consider the quality of the work we put out there. As popular a movie as it was and as well as it did at the box office "Straight Outta Compton " was no Citizen Cane nor was it meant to be . Most of the people that went to see it went out of curiosity and a devotion and interest to the hip-hop community it was an entertainment vehicle that made a considerable amount of money for it's producers but did not go beyond that. The movies that received nominations were for the most part, more in-depth and three dimensional. Even Ice Cube one of the producers as much as admitted this.
I have had lots of set-backs in my life and have never walked away from my goals because in the long run who is that going to benefit not me, and certainly not the people who believe in me, family, true friends etc. It would benefit those who do not want me to succeed and give them the victory they do not deserve. I have set goals for myself and cannot and will not be hindered by how others see me or marginalized by them. I am the only one who has the right to do that to me and I refuse to do so.
It should not be a given that every year African-Americans should be included in the Oscars. A nomination is something that one earns for themselves and should be considered a given. The years that we are nominated are the years that those actors and directors have earned the nomination.
Again, we must also remember that the Oscars are as much a political game as it is a accomplishment game . I rarely see African-American actors, directors or producers lobby for these nominations most just take for granted that they should be included.
A big push in that direction would be to make the talk show circuit and other venues including taking out ads in the trades and actually talking to members of the academy instead of alienating them ( Spike Lee) Also as I mentioned earlier, we are not the only group that have been excluded but I rarely see the African-American entertainment community stand up for any of these groups. I would love to see more movies that concentrate on other minority communities and I would love to see if deserved those movies nominated for Oscars.
The Academy has given the African-American community more opportunities that any other. The president of the Academy is African-American as well as the producer and the host of the Academy Awards is Chris Rock. It is unfair to tell these people that their accomplishments do not matter and they should walk away or that we as a community should not join the academy of motion picture artists and refuse to participate in the Oscars this year that is unfair and unrealistic. For Spike Lee and
Jada Pinkett-Smith to even suggest this is naive and lacking understanding of the real problem. That problem is maybe that academy members did not see any vehicles produced by African-Americans as being quality enough for an Oscar nod and they will never as long as we whine like children instead of addressing the issue like adult professionals .
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