Samuel L. Jackson Latanya Richardson Jackson - H 2016
Getty ImagesThough Samuel L. Jackson didn’t nab an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Hateful Eight, he and wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson aren’t exactly boycotting the ceremony.
“Of course, I was upset because Sam didn’t get nominated, but then we moved on,” the Show Me a Hero actress told The Hollywood Reporter just before participating in a starry tribute to playwright Arthur Miller on Monday night in New York City. “We are of a different generation — we lived through the black power movement — so we moved on. … I’m disturbed by it all, but we gotta remember: the Oscars is one night.”
Though Jackson — who herself is an Academy member and wondered if her status will be affected by the recently-announced changes — isn’t actively protesting the February awards show, she noted that she and her husband try their best to combat Hollywood’s diversity problem year-round.
Related Stories
“During the year, [Academy voters] aren’t the people you need to be trying to boycott! You have to go where this occurs: … inside a room of producers, and the number of movies that get green lit,” she explained. “I don’t know if you saw Hamilton, but you got to be in ‘the room where it happens.’ It’s the truth.”
Another potential reason for the lack of diversity among the acting nominees? “Some people, you just vote and you don’t watch the film. You figure, ‘Is that person in that movie? Oh, I don’t like his movies, I’m not gonna watch it.’ You have to watch the movie! Or, you should! It’s the integrity of the situation,” Jackson added. “It’s hard with 6,000 members. … I can’t imagine that 6,000 people watched Hateful Eight and didn’t nominate it.”
Altogether, Jackson asserted that she supports Jada Pinkett-Smith’s active boycott. “That’s what they wanted to do, and they have the right to do that, and I support her having the right to do whatever she wants to do,” she noted. However, Jackson herself didn’t share a video on her stance, she said while raising her eyebrows, because “we are very different.”
