President Of The Motion Picture Academy Promises To Address Issue Of Lack Of Diversity In Oscar Nominations Going Forward

The Oscars have landed in hot waters this time around, after the list of nominees for this year’s awards seemed to confirm a pattern of the Academy snubbing movies with African American origins.
Most notable was the snub of ‘Straight Outta Compton’, the N.W.A biopic that was one of the biggest motion pictures of the year.
In the face of outcry from the black community, and calls for a boycott from several notable names like Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith; the president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, has released a statement addressing the problem.
Isaacs, who is African American herself, notes that the lack of diversity is a problem that the Academy has to address. She promises that more measures would be taken in recruitment to make the Academy as diverse as possible for the coming years.
“In 2016 the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and s*xual orientation.” She writes.
Check out her statement below…
“I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year’s nominees. While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes.
“The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond,”
“As many of you know, we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years. But the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more, and better and more quickly.”
“This isn’t unprecedented for the Academy. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was about recruiting younger members to stay vital and relevant. In 2016, the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and s*xual orientation. We recognize the very real concerns of our community, and I so appreciate all of you who have reached out to me in our effort to move forward together.”