Lupita Nyong'O just joined the #OscarsSoWhite rally. With this year's all-white nominations, many artists, regardless of their race and background, feel slighted and disappointed.
The latest to join the #OscarsSoWhite movement is the "12 Years a Slave" star. She earned an Academy Award for her performance in this film as the best supporting actress. While the Academy was able to recognize her talent and skills as an actress, Nyong'O was not happy at all that the Academy was less inclusive this year than expected. She took to her Instagram account to express her feelings as well as thoughts on what the role of the Academy should be.
According to her lengthy post, Nyong'O said that the lack of inclusion in this year's nominations is disappointing. As a result, she is starting to think of what is considered prestigious in the modern culture. In this sense, the actress believes that the Academy should not play the role of a dictator on what arts mean in the modern society. Rather, it should just reflect what artists can offer today. Therefore, she is one with the many artists that have started to rally against the Academy and called for boycott ever since the nominations were announced.
A photo posted by Lupita Nyong'o (@lupitanyongo) on Jan 19, 2016 at 8:40pm PST
Some of the artists that Nyong'O might have implied are Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee, and George Clooney. All three have been very vocal about their disappointment with the Academy. Pinkett Smith called for a right boycott from the start, and even had to defend her position against those who do not believe in what she is fighting for.
In a Facebook video, actress Pinkett Smith shared that she is done with the Oscars. I can't help but ask the question, is it time that people of color recognize how much power, an influence that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?" the Gotham star said. "I ask the question, have we now come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgment or respect of any group?"
While many agreed, Pinkett Smith and Janet Hubert of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" are currently in a feud because the two cannot see eye to eye on the implications of #OscarsSoWhite. For Hubert, there are more important issues in the world to get riled over instead of crying about not being nominated. For Pinkett-Smith however, the issue went beyond the Oscars, as ET Online exclusively learned. Hubert however, is continuing to make disparaging remarks against Pinkett-Smith, the latest of which she called Jada and her husband Will Smith pretenders.
