The #OscarsSoWhite movement criticizing the lack of diversity in this year’s Academy Awards nominations has really had an impact in Hollywood. Reforms are already being made for next year’s nomination process, and the Academy has pledged that by 2020 it will have doubled its female and minority members. Still, there are some people out there who don’t see a need for any diversity enhancements to the Oscars, or anything else for that matter.

Black actress and FOX commentator Stacey Dash is one of these people. During an interview on FOX & Friends, Dash criticized Jada Pinkett Smith’s boycott, calling it ludicrous. Dash continued saying,

We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. If we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the [NAACP] Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms, it’s a double standard.

She then took it a step forward adding, “There shouldn’t be a black history month. We’re Americans. Period.”

Needless to say the blowback was immediate, however, BET’s “Being Mary Jane” star Gabrielle Union’s response to the scandal showed us sometimes it’s better not to even dignify these kinds of people with a response.

When asked how she felt about Dash’s comments at the Sundance Film Festival, where her critically acclaimed movie “The Birth of a Nation” was being shown, the actress answered simply, “Who’s that. Who’s Stacey Dash? Is she like related to Dame Dash? Was she on Roc-A-Fella?” Adding, “I heard of a crazy lady once, maybe last week. But I don’t know what her name is.”

Gabrielle Union was asked about Stacy “Clueless” Dash pic.twitter.com/B04lfFpSfV

— KANYE ASADA (@gilossal) January 26, 2016

Then she turned off the shade for a second to get real, saying,

It’s why there’s a need for Birth of a Nation, and why there’s a need for the Country Music Awards, and the ALMA Awards. If you don’t see yourself reflected in mainstream awards, you tend to create your own.

After that, Union’s comments were quickly turned into the trending hashtag #WhoIsStaceyDash, where people pretended to be clueless as to who the “Clueless” actress was.

#whoisStaceyDash Yaass @itsgabrielleu pic.twitter.com/qz7mf5tJsI

— Starlynn (@SavvyStarMUA) January 27, 2016

#WhoIsStaceyDash is she lady that makes those seasonings? — comin up trillhouse (@2Fat2Furiosa) January 27, 2016

Is this her? #WhoisStaceyDash pic.twitter.com/Sk0WRd9pnr

— Eric Isaac (@ericisaac) January 27, 2016

#whoisStaceyDash A woman that used Black spaces to advance her career and now sh*ts on them for #foxnews pic.twitter.com/fxXFPFisI6

— Ricky Riley (@epicarthouse) January 27, 2016

#WhoIsStaceyDash? Y’all were in a movie together pic.twitter.com/bHu3etz0te — Raymond Price (@Raymond__Price) January 26, 2016

“What do I think of Stacey Dash? …I don’t.” #WhoIsStaceyDash pic.twitter.com/yaqQmSWMza

— iconick (@NICKWALSH) January 27, 2016

Preview of my interview with @ArevaMartin. Subscribe here: https://t.co/XMlFonugSQ #WhoIsStaceyDash @Adele pic.twitter.com/RCaVLgvBxQ — Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 27, 2016

The #WhoIsStaceyDash hashtag is the best fruit the shade tree has dropped in a good long while.

— Kylo Brin (@Brindolyn) January 27, 2016

But BET may have had the best comeback of the bunch when it published a slideshow on its website titled “Every Time Stacey Dash Proved She Was Clueless.” The network then took it one step further by calling out Dash for guest starring in one of its most popular shows “The Game.”

Soooooo @REALStaceyDash can we get our check back… or nah? #Remember #YouWereOnTheGame   #AndWeDontMeanTheRapper pic.twitter.com/2vWq03J0c9 — BET (@BET) January 20, 2016

Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Hopefully next time Dash will think twice before mouthing off some of her controversial opinions. But who are we kidding, because after all, she is on FOX News.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Shade Alert: Gabrielle Union Wants to Know #WhoIsStaceyDash? appeared first on Law Street.

When the Academy Awards revealed its nominations last week for the 88th Oscars, people couldn’t help but notice that all of the actors and actresses named have something in common:

All of them are white.

That’s right, for the second year in a row not a single person of color was nominated for any of the four highly coveted acting categories–and the industry isn’t happy about it.

Nominations are #OscarsSoWhite all over again https://t.co/o6MImkEfYR pic.twitter.com/vHsB1orcLv

— Mashable (@mashable) January 14, 2016

The diversity shutout spawned critics to start the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to voice their disapproval, and on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday Monday, filmmaker Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith both announced in separate statements that they would be boycotting the February 28th ceremony.

In an Instagram post Lee explained that both he and his wife could not support the “lily white” awards, writing:

How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let’s Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can’t Act?! WTF!!

Spike Lee will not be attending the Oscars because #OscarsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/gODpStApjv — Black Ballad (@Blackballaduk) January 18, 2016

Lee continued:

Dr. King Said “There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It’s Right”.

Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith was not nominated for his leading performance in the NFL head injury biopic “Concussion,” echoed her disapproval over the votes in a Facebook video message.

The actress asked that people join her in boycotting the awards saying,

Maybe it is time that we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities and our programs and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called ‘mainstream’ one.

She then added,

Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are a dignified people, and we are powerful.

Fellow actors Idris Elba, who was snubbed for his acclaimed role in “Beasts of No Nation,” and David Oyelowo, who failed to get an Oscar nomination last year for his portrayal of MLK in “Selma,” also joined in on criticizing the all-white line up. But not everyone supported Lee and Pinkett Smith’s stand against the Academy.

Actress Janet Hubert, who played Will Smith’s mom on the hit show “Fresh Prince,” slammed her former costar’s wife in her own video response, calling Pinkett Smith’s boycott ironic.

Hubert took some nasty shots at the couple saying,

You ain’t Barack and Michelle Obama. And y’all need to get over yourselves. You have a huge production company that you only produce your friends and family and yourself. So you are a part of Hollywood, you are part of the system that is unfair to other actors. So get real.

On Monday, the Academy’s African American President Cheryl Boone Isaacs shared in a statement that she is “heartbroken and frustrated” over the lack of diversity. Boone promised to work toward reviewing the organization’s membership recruitment in order to ensure diversity is a priority moving forward, but as Oyelowo pointed out, the votes are not her fault.

Since the voters are made up of predominantly white males, it should come as no surprise that individuals getting the most nominations across the board happen to be both white and male. If the Academy can’t begin to accurately reflect the nation’s diversity, the integrity of its awards will continue to be called into question. With the award show still weeks away, it will be interesting to see how the boycott affects the night.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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