Jada Pinkett Smith & Spike Lee To Boycott 2016 Oscars

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Jada Pinkett Smith said in a Facebook video that she will be boycotting the 2016 Oscars due to a reoccurring lack of diversity in the prestigious awards ceremony.

Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith to boycott oscars

The 44-year-old actress said “stand in your power and create your own”, proclaiming for people of color in the entertainment and film industry to take responsibility and make the change. “Maybe it’s time to pull back our resources and put them back into the community”.

Not soon after, legendary filmmaker and director Spike Lee, who actually won an honorary award from the Academy in November, said he too will be boycotting.

“As I Said In My Honorary Oscar Acceptance Speech, It’s Easier For An African-American To Be President Of The United States Than Be President Of A Hollywood Studio. ” said Lee.

“We cannot support it and [I] mean no disrespect … But, how is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the acting category are white? And let’s not even get into the other branches,” Lee wrote on Instagram. “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can’t act?! WTF! Lee said.

Oscars So White

The announcement comes on the day the country nationally celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who fought for equal rights for all people. The Oscars have drawn criticism for having over mostly all-white nominees in major categories. The criticism sparked the rising of the #OscarsSowhite hashtag.

#OscarsSoWhite trended on social media last week after a number of black Oscar hopefuls, including “Beasts of No Nation’s” Idris Elba; “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan; that movie’s writer-director, Ryan Coogler; and the cast of N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton” were overlooked by academy voters.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has faced years of criticism that its 7,000-plus members who vote on the Oscars are mostly older, male, white and out of touch with today’s moviegoers.

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is black, said over the weekend that she was “disappointed” by the Oscar nominations.

“But this is not to take away the greatness” of the nominated films, she told Deadline. “This has been a great year in film, it really has, across the board. You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it.”

Next month’s 88th Academy Awards will be hosted by black actor-comedian Chris Rock, who has largely remained quiet about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Friday on Twitter, however, Rock referred to the show as “the white BET Awards.”