Stop whining about the whingeing. Lol
Poor BORBO.
As Hollywood snubs black actors, our star columnist BAZ BAMIGBOYE says: Sorry, most aren't good enough this year
When Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win an Oscar for best leading man in 1963, much of America was scandalised as the actress Anne Bancroft presented him with the award and gave him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek.To many, such inter-racial contact was taboo. Today, when so many of the most successful people in showbiz — and in all other walks of life — are of ethnic origin, such a reaction seems grotesque.
Sidney Poitier, who won an Oscar for his performance in Lilies of the Field, was the first black actor to ever win one of the gold statuettes: 52 years later, only four more have won a best actor or actress award
But it must be seen in the historical context. Ever since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had first begun its annual ceremony to honour the acting world in 1929, no other black man or woman had been similarly feted.
Courting controversy: Daily Mail showbiz columnist Baz Bamigboye
Indeed, at that time in America, in the Sixties, racial harmony was a very long way from being established and the decade witnessed 750 inner-city race riots in which 228 people were killed, 12,700 injured and many black urban neighbourhoods destroyed. For his part, Poitier, who won his Oscar in the film Lilies Of The Field (in which he played a construction worker who a group of nuns believe was sent to them by God to build their church), was typically modest about his landmark achievement. With much understatement, he said: ‘It has been a long journey to this moment.’
But it now seems that ‘long journey’ is far from complete. Ever since Poitier’s triumph, only four black actors (Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Halle Berry) have won in the best actor or actress category. That’s five black actors in 87 years of Oscars history (although ten other actors of colour have won for best supporting roles). And now that has been compounded by the failure of a single minority performer to figure in the 20 acting nominations for the 88th ceremony next month.
This has led the president of Hollywood’s Academy Awards, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, to say she’s ‘heartbroken and frustrated’ about the lack of inclusion. She also promised that the Academy will review its membership recruitment process ‘to bring about much-needed diversity’ in future nominations. I feel foolish in having to even point out that Ms Boone Isaacs is black. Director Spike Lee has gone further than Ms Boone Isaacs, saying he will boycott what he describes as the ‘lily white’ awards.
I share some of their angst, but I don’t feel heartbroken about this year’s nominations. The simple fact is that the Oscars must celebrate and honour the best. And, I’m afraid, in my view, the movies this year with black actors and black film-makers aren’t of that high quality.
The only exceptions are Idris Elba’s charismatic performance as a warlord in Beast Of No Nation (based on the experiences of a child soldier fighting in a civil war in Africa) and the boxing movie Creed.
That is not to deny, though, that the membership of the Academy (who choose the Oscar nominations) is not a serious problem.
It should never be the case that there must be a film representing people of colour no matter what. In an ideal world, yes, of course, art should reflect our society. This happened with the brilliant 12 Years A Slave — which won three Oscars. What we certainly don’t want is well-meaning tokenism — the sort of attitude: ‘Oh, look, there are some black dudes in a half-decent movie, let’s nominate them for an Academy Award.’ That’s patronising and utterly offensive.
Year after year, I stand on the red carpet in the hours leading up to the annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles, and watch the mostly white membership glide by. Indeed, the Los Angeles Times made a study of the membership in 2012 and found that those who vote for the Oscars are nearly 94 per cent Caucasian and 77 per cent male. Blacks represent just 2 per cent and Latinos fewer than 2 per cent.
Stop whining about the whingeing. Lol
Poor BORBO.
Leonthecat (01-21-2016)
Do! Do!
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
Hollywood is the most liberal run place around....when democrats want money, they go to the movie studios and actors. All of a sudden the blacks are realizing they are not that important in Hollywood, wonder when they will make the connection that democrats do the same thing, pretend to support blacks, but they only use them to get reelected or maintain power. The rest of the time they take them for granted.
whinge
(h)winj/Submit
BRITISHinformal
verb
gerund or present participle: whingeing
complain persistently and in a peevish or irritating way.
"stop whingeing and get on with it!"https://www.google.com/search?q=whin...sm=93&ie=UTF-8
Poor ignorant kaz.
evince (01-22-2016)
Nope
you have just repeated the same crap racists have always repeated when caught being racists.
we have never stopped and will never stop until there are no more idiots like you just cant leave racism behind them.
live in infamy or get right with the FACTS and the world and help make this a better world.
You are either a part of he solution or your part of the problem
you hate too much
Leonthecat (01-22-2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baz_Bamigboye
Baz Bamigboye is a British gossip columnist and entertainments writer for the Daily Mail group of newspapers.
Bookmarks