Hollywood celebrities, especially those of the B-list variety whose marginal fame is due to decent roles they had decades ago, are clamoring to pile on the “white out” at the Academy Awards, using the non-story to express their deeper views about how much they despise America.
Danny DeVito, who starred in a hit TV show in the 1970s and then moved on to box office bombs and, eventually, a crude show on cable station FX, is the latest.
“It’s unfortunate that the entire country is a racist country,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.
DeVito called the “all-white” nominees for the Feb. 28 awards show a blatant act of racism, saying good performances by black actors were skipped over because America “discriminates.”
“… Generally speaking, we’re a bunch of racists.”
“This is one example of the fact that even though some people have given great performances in movies, they weren’t even thought about. We are living in a country that discriminates and has certain racist tendencies. So, sometimes it manifests in things like this, and it’s illuminated. But just generally speaking, we’re a bunch of racists.”
Lupita Nyong’o, a black actress who won an Oscar in 2013 for her work in “12 Years a Slave,” also sought to make the Academy Awards issue more about America.
“I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year’s Academy Awards nominations,” she wrote on Instagram. “It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture.”
Viola Davis, who became the first black woman to win a TV-award Emmy, also sought to expand the controversy beyond the Academy.
“The problem is not with the Oscars. The problem is with the Hollywood movie making system,” she said on “Entertainment Tonight.” “The problem isn’t even our pay … You could probably line up all the A-list black actresses out there (and) they probably don’t make what one A-list white woman makes in one film. That’s the problem. You can change the academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?”
Snoop Dogg weighed in with his normal thought-provoking and insightful commentary.
“Somebody was actually like am I gonna watch the mother**king Oscars. F**k no,” Dogg said on Instagram. “What the f**k am I going to watch that bulls**t for? They ain’t got no n*****s nominated. All these great movies and all this great s**t ya’ll keep stealing from us. F**k you!”
B-listers also took aim at actors who spoke a little differently about the academy debacle.
“There’s loads of black actors,” said Michael Caine, who appeared in 115 films and was nominated for an Oscar six times, winning just two. “You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to vote for him. He’s not very good, but he’s black. I’ll vote for him.'”
Caine, 82, had advice for all those who think they should win an award for their first movie role.
“Be patient. Of course it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar,” he said.
‘”I’m going to vote for him. He’s not very good, but he’s black. I’ll vote for him.”
Charlotte Rampling, a British actress who starred in Woody Allen and Paul Newman films but never won an Oscar, went further than Caine, saying those demanding an Oscars boycott are “racist to white people.”
“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to be on the final list. Why classify people?” she said. “We now live in a place where everyone is more or less accepted. There are so many problematic things said: ‘He’s too handsome; him, he’s too black; he’s too white.’ There is always someone to say: ‘You are too …’ But will we say, ‘We should classify everything in a way that will make sure there are lots of minorities everywhere’?”
She derided until she said her comments had been “misinterpreted.”
“I simply meant to say that in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration,” Rampling said.
Of course, other big-time celebrities came out in opposition to the academy nominations. Both George Clooney and Will Smith chimed in about the lack of diversity in Hollywood, and other celebrities have announced they will not attend the awards. But the anger among many was not aimed just at the academy. Many, like gangster rapper turned actor Ice Cube, saw strands of racism deep in America’s soul.
“I ain’t gonna kiss no ass for nothing,” said Cube, who produced “Straight Outta Compton. “Maybe that is the problem, or maybe we should have put a slave in ‘Straight Outta Compton.’ I think that’s where we messed up. Just one random slave for the Academy to recognize us as a real black movie.”
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