Outrage As Black Actors Absent From Oscars Lineup

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, once again, included no black actors or directors – prompting a dismayed revival of the “OscarsSoWhite” hashtag.

The bigger, more complicated problem is that the executives and professionals who finance movies and distribute them are mostly white and hesitant to risk millions of dollars on unfamiliar talent, despite the strong performance of such films as “Straight Outta Compton” and “Creed”, both of which had black directors and stars.

The Oscar nomination were announced this morning, and the lack of diversity would be astonishing, if it wasn’t the Academy Awards. And while he hails the fact that steps are being taken and that there are encouraging signs the the entertainment industry is starting to move in the right direction, some of the onus is on black audiences who he said need to keep investing in films produced by people of color.

“What is important is that this entire conversation of diversity is here and we are talking about it”, Isaacs said. “We will not sit idly by and allow our community to be disregarded”.

“No nomination for Michael B. Jordan on Creed?“. And I’m guessing that when these dudes (77 percent) were teenagers, they were listening to the Beach Boys (nothing wrong with that!), whereas a new Academy member like Ava DuVernay knew exactly who Dr. Dre and N.W.A were when she was growing up around Compton.

“Compton” scored a screenplay nod, and one if its nominated writers said she sees hope for change on the diversity issue in Hollywood. “It is not being ignored, and there’s a lot of us working at a more grassroots level to try to turn the tides”.

This year saw only one nonwhite person get a nomination in a major category – Alejandro G. Iñárritu for directing The Revenant.

It ought to go without saying that this is only a few of the many artists and many films by and featuring people of color that deserved more recognition today. Many people have no idea about the YEARS that you labored to bring an incredibly challenging and complicated biopic to the big screen.

There was widespread dismay that Straight Outta Compton didn’t receive further Oscar nominations in the fields of Best Picture, Best Director, for F. Gary Gray, while it was also believed that the young cast should have been recognised in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actors categories.