Academy President Promises to Diversify Oscar Membership
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, took to Twitter to address the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year's Oscar nominees.
None of 20 acting nominees are people of color for the second year in a row. The smash hit "Straight Outta Compton" was snubbed, though it had received precursor nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, the Producers Guild, and the Writers Guild. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite has been trending on Twitter, and director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith have vowed to boycott the ceremony.
"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," Boone wrote in a release on Twitter.
A statement from Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs pic.twitter.com/Nqhgc7sbqG
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 19, 2016
Boone added that the Academy hopes to diversify its membership by expanding their recruitment efforts even further.
"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."
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