Oscars So White

Sounds like they want Affirmative Action for entertainment awards.
I wonder what Martin Luther King would think of the self segregation (staying home from Oscars) to protest not being included - but I don't think it's a matter of not being included.
Some years there are quite a number of amazing performances - and there are only just so many prizes to be handed out.
This isn't a situation where everyone receives a reward just for participating.

Because BET and NAACP are affinity groups that are celebrating/promoting people who fit a certain criteria. It's like asking why the ESPYs (sports awards) don't nominate scientists, or why the Pulitzer prize in journalism doesn't recognize achievements in accounting.

The Oscars are to promote excellence in film overall. It is a bit jarring that for a critically acclaimed film such as "Straight Out of Compton" the only two nominees were the white screenwriters, and that for "Creed," the black director and star were passed over while Sylvester Stallone was nominated for best supporting actor. Last year, "Selma" was nominated for best picture but the black director and star were not nominated.

If you google this, you'll come across some good articles that show that this is not just due to random chance, especially two years in a row. That's what people are outraged over.

I don't think you will get flak (not slack) for the question.

I don't think for a second that Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are boycotting because HE wasn't nominated. (There are always glaring omissions.) I think they, and Spike Lee, and others, are boycotting because NO people of color were nominated anywhere.

Brilliant answer by JB below - BET and NAACP celebrate people of color, and ESPN celebrates sports heroes. Women's organizations will celebrate women of achievement. And yes, that's because these groups are under-represented in mainstream awards. So, no, white people aren't nominated for those. Women aren't nominated for "Best Actor" and cats don't compete in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Baseball players don't compete for the Heisman trophy and hockey players don't qualify for the Cy Young Award. My husband is a writer and will never, ever, have a shot at Teacher of the Year. If there are equally prestigious awards in a different category, that's one thing. But there aren't.

The sad fact of the Academy is, although there is a black president, the average make-up of it is 63-year-old white men. You could say the same thing about Congress. Or Corporate America. So while they might hire Chris Rock as host, that doesn't mean that the opportunities are even. The Oscars are THE awards for motion picture excellence. If there are only white people nominated, that means that no people of color were worthy, in the eyes of the Academy. And that sucks.

Whoopi Goldberg had a very good point on "The View" the other day. (And she ought to know - she was the first person of color to win a Supporting Actress Oscar since Hattie McDaniel for "Gone with the Wind" - even though Ms. McDaniel couldn't sit with the other nominees!) Whoopi's point was, it's not just about the Oscars and what you see represented in the nominations. It's what you see represented the other 364 days of the year in terms of movies, roles, directors, music directors, cinematographers, and so on. What are the movies we are going to see all year long? It's mighty white. But the MONEY is white too - producers, executive producers, directors, etc.

It's also overwhelmingly male. Women, particularly those over 45, are really scrounging and struggling for roles. Yes, ONE white woman over 50 might get a great role, but there's only one. Or two. So if Helen Mirren gets it, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave don't. If Meryl Streep gets it, then Sally Field and D. Wiest and D. Keaton and Ellen Burstyn don't.

And it's not just the movies - all the late night TV shows are, and have always been, hosted by men. Joan Rivers tried, and did not succeed. But she's the only one who even got a chance.

There's also an ageism problem. Maggie Gyllenhaal is 37, but was told by a Hollywood producer that she was "too old" to be the love interest of a 55 year old man. In the last Bond film, there was a big firestorm over the "advanced age" of the Bond woman. Daniel Craig, to his credit, shot it down. And I quote: When the interviewer asked about Bond "succumbing to the charms of an older woman," referring to Bond's love interest actress Monica Belluci in "Spectre," Craig quickly shut him down. "I think you mean the charms of a woman his own age."

So there's plenty of healthy debate about whether or not a boycott is a good/productive/ healthy thing. It worked for the Montgomery bus boycott decades ago of course, it's working for the Barilla pasta products and Chik-Fil-A (anti-gay stance), it certainly worked with the Salvation Army (red kettle collections were WAY down around Christmas due to their discriminatory policies), and so on. Will it help with the Oscars? I don't know.

The black population is about 13% in the US and if you look at the awards over time (since the 90's I think) the amount of blacks getting nominated or receiving awards is about 12.5% so they are not being left out. I can’t believe that anyone would accuse the most liberal people in the country of racism.

Will Smith is just upset about not getting a nomination and acting like a spoiled brat and the other followers are the usual race baiting losers starting trouble.

I don’t really care that there are black only TV stations (BET), awards, dating sites, etc... But, you all know if it were white only anything the public’s heads would be exploding. It’s long overdue to stop ALL segregation and just be Americans.

In a nut shell- No you don't get an reward/award for participating or just because of your skin color.

If you acknowledge white privilege then the BET or the NAACP awards make sense. Why would we need "white pride" awards when we live in a society that favors being white?

As to the Oscars it's too subjective for me to have a strong opinion. We'll never know what went into the outcome of this year's (and many others) lily white awards. Was it racism, prejudice within the industry or that the whites deserved to win? I don't know but I can understand the anger. It's not about some award or who "wins" it about the racist society we live in every day and the much bigger injustices that people of color are faced with.

As soon as this topic comes up whites declare race baiting and call for us to forget color and act solely as Americans. People of color don't have the luxury of forgetting race, not for a moment. That in itself is one small example of white privilege. Talk to some black people or better yet follow the advice below and do some research or take a class. A quick google search will turn up lots of articles by people happy to explain it to you.

take a black studies or ethnic studies class that addresses the history of institutional racism. then you will have a better understanding.

Well since Will Smith said that he thought everyone of the actors nominated were great and deserving his boycott makes little sense to me. Does he really think the reason he wasn't nominated was because of his skin color? Does he think he should have been nominated because he is black? When my kids don't win an award or get the recognition they thought they had earned, I tell them to stick with it and work harder.

I think we should all take a lesson from how parents of kids with disabilities raise their children. They tell them they can do anything they want. They tell them not to give up. They tell them to give it their best...work harder, etc. I can't imagine telling my kids or implying that something didn't happen for them because of their skin color (or sex) even if this was true which I am not saying it is true, how demoralizing that must be.

i think it was sour grapes from jada and will smith. i think nominations were for the best performances, not color of skin.

When I was in college, I was not offended that the social fraternities on campus excluded women, because they are by definition, men's groups. I certainly would have been offended if the academic honorary society, which claimed only academic excellence as its criteria for membership, had excluded women.

I stopped watching the Oscars years ago....

I was watching a NBA game and I feel whites are under-represented. But, then again, teams pick the best--regardless of race. Maybe the Oscars are doing the same....

Think about the shows you enjoy watching and the movies you enjoy seeing. Now in your mind begin to count just how many African Americans you see. Now consider the commercials you see. How many non-white people do you see. In many shows and many commercials and movies too you won't see more than one or possibly two of African Americans. When the people vote in their category there isn't much of a pool of much of anyone else but white people. Skin color and age do play a part when going after a role and getting a job in Hollywood. It seems as though the only stories worth telling seem to be filled with white people.

On the flip side the NAACP Image Awards do give awards to white people as well as other non African Americans. People such as Bono, Doug Atchinson, Soledad O'Brien, Mario Cuomo, Al Gore, Bill Clinton. Shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Law & Order, American Idol, 30 Rock and others have all received honors courtesy of the NAACP.

I'm glad you asked this question the way you did. The reason why you aren't so familiar with this culture because the media presents mostly white images and really has a difficult time representing other types of people.

Yeah I do understand the frustration and anger many are expressing at this time.

I think the real issue is that there are not a lot of characters for people of ANY other color to play. More often then not you will see people that are not white playing roles that follow a stereotype.
I think the issue is that there need to be more roles for people to play that are not exclusively white.
PLUS, there WERE some fantastic movies with actors that were not white that did not get nominated, and perhaps should have?

I think that a person is a person and their talent is what gets them the nomination. I really don't think people are so prejudiced, are they? I can't imagine anyone being like that.

The entertainment community are more accepting and exposed to so much more than regular people. I think they'd do that.

Maybe I need an education too.