After its exclusion of Black actors from the 2015 pool of Oscar nominees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has again followed suit in failing to nominate even one Black actor for its 2016 list.
Last year everyone was up in arms when neither the director Ava Duvernay (Selma) nor the actors in Selma were nominated for the Best Director or Best Actor categories.?
This year, there were a handful of performances that could have been considered from Will Smith in Concussion to Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation to Michael B. Jordan in Creed.? ?
African-American writer, film director and producer Reginald Hudlin, one of the producer?s of this year?s awards, said in an online article, ?Of course. I thought there was an extraordinary amount of Oscar-worthy work by black artists and they all?got overlooked,? he said. ?That?s a?lot, so it?s very disappointing. But that doesn?t change the fact that those movies are there, those movies are great, audiences love them and they were some of the biggest boxoffice of the year. So America?s clear, the world is clear as they are celebrating them. I hope they are not being punished for their success.?
Academy officials have, however, hired funny man Chris Rock to serve as host. We love Rock, but that doesn’t make us feel any better.?
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.
