#OscarsSoWhite – Law Street https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com Law and Policy for Our Generation Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:46:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8 100397344 The 89th Academy Awards: Were They Still #OscarsSoWhite? https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/entertainment-blog/89th-academy-awards-still-oscarssowhite/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/entertainment-blog/89th-academy-awards-still-oscarssowhite/#respond Tue, 28 Feb 2017 19:24:57 +0000 https://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=59229

We're making progress, but we're not there yet.

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"Academy Award Winner" courtesy of Davidlohr Bueso; license: (CC BY 2.0)

Last year, the Academy Awards faced a lot of criticism for being too white, as not a single person of color was nominated in any category as an actor. But this year saw a dramatic change, with a record high number of people of color being recognized. And a record-breaking total of six black actors were nominated across the acting categories.

It was an evening of firsts: Viola Davis won the Oscar for best supporting actress in “Fences,” which makes her the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony for acting. Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor ever to win an Oscar, for his supporting role in “Moonlight.” It was also the first time a wrong winner has been announced. After it was announced that “La La Land” won for best film, the movie’s cast and crew were already halfway through their victory speeches when staff ran up on stage to announce that “Moonlight” was the real winner.

What is now being talked about as the worst blunder in Oscars history took away some of the epic-ness of “Moonlight’s” win–it was the first movie with an all-black cast to win. “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz said into the microphone, “There’s a mistake. Moonlight, you won best picture,” before insisting it wasn’t a joke. “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins was clearly taken aback and walked to the stage to standing ovations. “Very clearly, even in my dreams this could not be true,” he said.

The event was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who attempted to save the situation, joking “I blame Steve Harvey for this,” referring to when Harvey announced the wrong winner in the 2015 Miss Universe pageant. Then he jokingly shouted at Warren Beatty, who had read the wrong envelope, “Warren, what did you do?!” The incident shocked many people on social media.

Throughout the evening, Kimmel repeatedly made jabs at President Donald Trump, starting off with, “this broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us.” He also called for people to give the totally “overrated actress” Meryl Streep a round of applause, referring to when Trump criticized her after the Golden Globes.

Later Kimmel said he was worried about the president because he hadn’t seen a tweet from him for several hours, so he tweeted at him on live TV.

But not even Kimmel made it through the whole evening without a gaffe. After Mahershala Ali’s acceptance speech, Kimmel joked about his name, and immediately faced backlash from the internet for his rather tone deaf joke:

Even though it can be seen as a victory that many movies by and about black people won awards on Sunday night, those movies have taken a long time to make and were already in the works last year during the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Like the creator of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, April Reign, pointed out on social media, they didn’t win because of last year’s backlash but because they absolutely deserved it.

And the fact is that the Oscars are still pretty white. Dev Patel, a British actor of Indian heritage who starred in the movie “Lion” was nominated in the supporting actor category. But actors of other ethnicities, including Hispanic and Asian, were largely absent. And diversity of gender is still lacking as well–on Sunday, only one female screenwriter was nominated, and not a single female director. Hopefully things are moving in the right direction–but there’s still so much work to be done.

Emma Von Zeipel
Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Shade Alert: Gabrielle Union Wants to Know #WhoIsStaceyDash? https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/entertainment-blog/shade-alert-gabrielle-union-wants-know-whoisstaceydash/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/entertainment-blog/shade-alert-gabrielle-union-wants-know-whoisstaceydash/#respond Wed, 27 Jan 2016 20:34:32 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=50303

People pretend to be clueless about knowing a "Clueless" star.

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Image Courtesy of [Susan G. Komen® via Flickr]

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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