Rev Al Sharpton Outraged Over All-White Oscar Nominees, Announces Task Force & Meeting
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Moviegoers arent the only ones upset by the blatant Oscar snub of the critically acclaimed film Selma. The Rev. Al Sharpton was so outraged at the overall lack of Black contenders for Academy Awards this year he has called an emergency meeting with a film industry task force.
Sharpton called the meeting to discuss the appalling all-white list of nomineesfor this years Oscar awards. He will be holding the emergency meeting next week, reports Business Insider.
The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets, Sharpton said in a statement.
His National Action Network has created a task force on the movie industry to deal with diversity. And Sharpton has an inside contact. Following the Sony email hacking scandal that received what many presumed as racist emails from Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, she contacted Sharpton to help calm the situation.
The lack of diversity in todays Oscar nominations is appalling and while it is good that Selma was nominated for Best Picture, its ironic that they nominated a story about the racial shutout around voting while there is a racial shutout around the Oscar nominations. With all of the talent in Selma and other Black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history, he said.
The all-white nominees list has happened only one other time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Rev Al Sharpton Outraged Over All-White Oscar Nominees, Announces Task Force & Meeting