Monday 18 January 2016

Jada Pinkett Smith to boycott the Oscars over African-American snub

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Jada Pinkett Smith has joined Spike Lee in boycotting the Oscars after voters failed to nominate any African-Americans for the major awards last week (14Jan16).

The actress, who starred in Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled, has officially declared she will not be attending or watching the 2016 Academy Awards.

In a video posted on Facebook on America's Martin Luther King Day (18Jan16), Will Smith's wife said, "Is it time that people of colour recognise how much power, influence, that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?

"Maybe it's time that we recognise that if we love and respect and acknowledge ourselves in the way in which we are asking others to do, that that is the place of true power."

The actress' husband was one of the black stars many Oscars experts felt should have received a nomination for his role in Concussion.

Pinkett Smith's video message came hours after Spike Lee announced he would not be attending the Oscars this year, just two months after he was presented with an honorary Oscar for his contributions to the movie industry.

"I would like to thank President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and the board of governors of The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for awarding me an honorary Oscar this past November," he wrote on Instagram.com. "I am most appreciative. However my wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee and I will not be attending the Oscar ceremony this coming February.
"We cannot support it and mean no disrespect to my friends... But, how is it possible for the 2nd consecutive year all 20 contenders under the actor category are white?... We Can't Act?! WTF (what the f**k)!!"

He added, "It's no coincidence I'm writing this as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.'s birthday. Dr. King said, 'There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but he must take it because conscience tells him it's right'."

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