Bill de Blasio Chirlane McCray - H 2016
Getty ImagesNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray are calling out the Oscars for the lack of nonwhite Academy Award nominees.
Following the Thursday morning announcement of the 88th Academy Award nominees, marking the second consecutive year in which no minorities were nominated in any of the acting categories, de Blasio and his wife both took to Twitter to share their opinions on the lack of diversity.
McCray posted a picture of each of the best actress nominees Thursday — Jennifer Lawrence, Brie Larson, Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan and Charlotte Rampling — with the caption “!?” and five white female emojis. On Friday, she followed up her first tweet with a second Twitter post: “The ladies are talented, but they do not even begin to represent or reflect the diverse and amazing talent of America 2016.”
On Friday, Mayor de Blasio also chimed in with his opinions on the lack of diversity. In a reply to his wife’s tweet, de Blasio specifically called out Hollywood for capitalizing on “people of color.”
“Hollywood fine with taking $ from people of color,” de Blasio posted. “Also apparently fine with ignoring their talent. #OscarsSoWhite.”
The nomination of all white actors and actresses in the four acting categories — best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress — for last year’s Academy Awards spurred the creation of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which trended again on Twitter during Thursday morning’s announcements.
Will Smith’s starring role in Concussion and Michael B. Jordan’s in Creed both were expected to earn nominations for the 2016 awards but were snubbed alongside Idris Elba’s performance in Beasts of No Nation, Samuel L. Jackson’s performance in The Hateful Eight, the cast of Straight Outta Compton and Creed‘s writer-director Ryan Coogler.
April Reign, the woman who started the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, tweeted after the announcements finished, “It’s actually worse than last year. Best Documentary and Best Original Screenplay. That’s it. #OscarsSoWhite.”
— Chirlane McCray (@Chirlane) January 14, 2016
The ladies are talented, but they do not even begin to represent or reflect the diverse and amazing talent of America 2016.
— Chirlane McCray (@Chirlane) January 14, 2016
Hollywood fine with taking $ from people of color. Also apparently fine with ignoring their talent. #OscarsSoWhite https://t.co/LzTpQs3rmE
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) January 15, 2016
It’s actually worse than last year. Best Documentary and Best Original Screenplay. That’s it. #OscarsSoWhite
— April (@ReignOfApril) January 14, 2016
