George Clooney says Oscars are ‘moving in the wrong direction’ for all-white nominations
GEORGE CLOONEY has weighed in on the #OscarsSoWhite debate, claiming the awards are “moving in the wrong direction” following the Academy’s decision to nominate all-white acting nominees for the second year in a row.
George has criticised the Oscars for the all-white actor nominations
The actor said: “All of a sudden, you feel like we’re moving in the wrong direction. There were nominations left off the table.”
The 58-year-old told Variety: “If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated.
“I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films?”
George revealed he thought there were four films this year that should have been nominated.
The two-time Oscar winner thinks there was more equality at the Oscars 10 years ago
George thinks that Idris Elba should have been nominated for his role in Beasts Of No Nation
He referenced Creed, Will Smith in Concussion, Idris Elba in Beasts Of No Nation and Straight Outta Compton as those which had been “left off the table”.
The two-time Oscar winner agreed “African Americans have a real fair point that the industry isn’t representing them well enough”.
He added: “For Hispanics, it’s even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at this.”
He said that 10 years ago there were more African American nominations
Earlier this week, Jada Pinkett Smith released a video message in which she revealed she is upset that her husband had been snubbed and appeared to be rallying minority actors to boycott the Hollywood film industry as a whole.
She said: "Maybe it's time we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, and we make programmes for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called mainstream.”
Jada added that she will boycott the Oscars ceremony on February 28 in protest. She will be joined by Spike Lee while their views have been echoed by Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais.
Jada Pinkett Smith to boycott Oscars
Jada has decided to boycott the Oscars due to #OscarsSoWhite debate