Last year, a prominent figure on #BlackTwitter coined a viral hashtag for 2015's Oscar nominations: #OscarsSoWhite. And like everything in an unoriginal Hollywood, the hashtag is being revived again on Twitter after announcements of this years nominees, nearly all of whom are white once more.
CNN and Reuters joined the media's lament saying, "Oh, no, not again," and "Another very white Oscars" respectively. CNN explains the rub:
Idris Elba had been expected to score a nomination for his performance as an African warlord in "Beasts of No Nation," but he was passed over. Other hopefuls such as "Concussion" star Will Smith, "Creed" star Michael B. Jordan, that movie's writer-director, Ryan Coogler, and the cast of N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton" also were ignored.
There is one documentary about black singer-songwriter and civil rights activist Nina Simone that gained a nomination and "Compton" was nominated for best original screenplay. However, it is noted that the two co-writers for that film about the rap super group are both white.
Also stirring the pot is Al Sharpton, who just like last year, came out with a diatribe against the whiteness of the movie industry. Through his National Action Network, the reverend gives his condemnation of Hollywood and proves that his efforts with Sony didn't work:
Hollywood is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher up you get the whiter it gets and this year's Academy Awards will be yet another Rocky Mountain Oscars. Yet again, deserving Black actors and directors were ignored by the Academy - which reinforces the fact that there are few if any Blacks with real power in Hollywood. Being left out of Awards consideration is about more than just recognition for a job well done; winning an Oscar has long-lasting cultural and economic impacts.
It is for precisely these reasons that I met last year with Sony Pictures and why I will continue the fight to bring equality to the film industry. Next month, we will convene a Hollywood Summit to bring light to those studios and others in the film industry who aren't living up to their obligations. We will not sit idly by and allow our community to be disregarded.'
The Hollywood Reporter was there to remind that while this indeed marks the second consecutive year that the four acting categories have no black actors represented, the only other years where this happened was in 2011 and before that in 1998. And this year's nominations were selected after the Academy made efforts over the summer to diversify its membership by adding black stars and directors.
But that does little to soothe the outrage in a "Black Lives Matter" climate.
The Oscars will air on February, 28, and will be hosted by Chris Rock, who is black.




