Ever since the nominations were announced for the 88th Annual Academy Awards on January 14, there has been much debate over the lack of minority nominees—primarily because there was a sizable amount of contenders from which to pick this year. The backlash has been swift, while many have been divided on the issue: actress Jada Pinkett-Smith and recent honorary Academy Award recipient Spike Lee both called for a boycott of this year’s ceremony (with Pinkett-Smith stating that she will neither attend nor watch, but sends her blessings to host Chris Rock); Snoop Dogg simply stated, “f*ck the Oscars,” while John Singleton, Whoopi Goldberg, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman, Stacey Dash, and a host of others have chimed in with their stances on the controversy.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs (a Black woman) even issued a statement expressing her dismay over the lack of diversity and vowed to take a closer look at the Academy’s voting body, planning to take this into consideration when inviting its next class of newly-minted Oscar voters. While the debate is sure to rage on between now and the February 28th telecast, we’ve found nine ways that the Academy could have avoided this mayhem for yet the second consecutive year. #OscarsSoWhite
Straight Outta Compton (Best Picture)
Few films in 2015 dominated the box office quite like Straight Outta Compton. The N.W.A. biopic has grossed over $200 million worldwide and received massive critical acclaim. One of the film’s producers, FAMU alum Will Packer, took to Facebook to voice his outrage over this year’s nominees; it’s possible that he believes his film was snubbed, and there are many who would agree. The movie’s sole nomination is for Best Original Screenplay, which (ironically) was written by four white screenwriters.
The 88th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock, will air on Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 5:30pm PST/8:30pm EST on ABC.
