In a strip mall parking lot just yards from the Dolby theatre where the Oscars ceremony was due to start a few hours later, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and his organisation, the National Action Network (NAN), held a rally denouncing the lack of diversity in the Academy Awards.
Protesters carried placards bearing the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, and others with the slogan, “Black lives matter.” When Sharpton took the stage, from a staircase balcony overlooking the parking lot, he led the crowd in a chant that has been a familar part of racial justice rallies across America in the last two years: “No justice – no peace.”
He said that in 2015, following the release of last year’s nominee list – in which, as with this year, no people of colour were nominated for awards in major categories – the Academy had promised him and his organisation that they would change.
But, he said, no such change had occurred.
During his speech, Sharpton held aloft an Oscar statue made of white, rather than the usual gold material, implying that this would be a more accurate coloration. “You are out of time,” he told the Academy. “We are not going to allow the Oscars to continue. This will be the last night of an all-white Oscars.”
After Sharpton spoke, he led protesters in a march, chanting, “Greenlight diversity” and “Diversify the Academy.” Hemmed in by police, who had closed most of the roads surrounding the Dolby theatre, the protesters instead marched in a circle around the parking lot.
“In this lot, where you see people have come out to walk in a unity circle, this is the colour of America,” Sharpton told reporters after the rally. “What they will see tonight is blacks on stage giving awards to whites that whites decided.”
“There’s nothing wrong with whites getting awards, but they should not be the only ones making decisions,” he continued. “We love Leonardo DiCaprio … but we also love Michael B Jordan. So why isn’t he in consideration?”
Colleen Williams, a supporter from Los Angeles, said that she was there “supporting for justice”. She called for more African Americans to be nominated for Academy awards. “[It’s] just fairness. We support the Oscars, but we just want fairness.”
Yolanda Christian, another supporter, said that she wanted “to make sure that everyone gets equal rights”.
The National Action Network planned a nationwide boycott of the televised ceremony night, calling it the “white Oscars tune-out”.
The idea, Sharpton told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday, was to put pressure on advertisers, especially event sponsor Kohl’s, to suspend ties with the organisation until it makes concrete changes to its diversity policies.
Copyright © 2016 theguardian.com. All rights reserved.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
Join the discussion
When these pinheads are seen protesting outside the NBA Championship game calling for “DIVERSITY” then I may take them seriously.
HEY AL,
This Hollywood is not an “affirmative action” opportunity.
SHUT UP ALREADY AND PAY YOUR BACK TAXES!
To add to that, when they start pushing diversity and equality in the Image awards, the BET awards and the NAACP awards, THEN we can talk.
Till then Shut the hell up.
I agree…but do we have till the end of never?
Unfortunately no.. And a bigger unfortunate, i doubt Sharptongue, will EVER shut the the heck up about race, till he’s dead.. Heck maybe not even then.
In my opinion this thread should be moved to the archives. We have I think beat this dead horse to a pulp. Al Sharpton is too cheap to buy air time and we have heard enough of his “shake down” racist rants ad naseum!!
To that racist buffoon Sharpton, there may have not been any blacks nominated this year but there was still a large black presence throughout the entire show. Next year when the academy bows down to you and your kind (meaning racists) and nominates more blacks than deserve nominations from that point on the rest of the world will question whether it’s a legitimate nomination or just to make up for this year. So there will be affirmative action at the Oscars too now.
Ha, I can’t believe I actually wrote a comment about the oscars like they are important.
That’s ok Johnpaul, don’t be too hard on yourself, we all find a need for some wasted time on a waste of skin like Sharpton….sometimes we just need to see a face that’s truly revolting , and on a subject that’s boring and irrelevant. If there were ever anything decent about Al Sharpton, it got wasted….I think we can
All imagine where it went.
whites are nominated for there talent whereas blacks must be nominated because they are black talented or not acording to Rev. AL
What I would REALLY like to see is a headline that says” This will be the last time this media outlet,or any other, will publish or broadcast a statement from the race-baiting idiot Al Sharpton.” That would be a great day indeed!
Nominees should NOT be based on their skin color but rather their merit.
Now, the NAACP Image awards is a racist organization — It says it right in the name: Colored People!If you do not want to be judged on the color of your skin, then denounce any organization that is clearly focused on skin color!!
Was there another Oscars that wasn’t shown? They were hosted by an American named Chris Rock. Unless I am wrong he is a man that happens to have dark brown skin. Does this mean that the BET Awards must have white people nominated for all the categories as well? How about this shouldn’t white students be allowed to get scholarships from the United Negro College Fund Scholarships? Just wondering because if not then shut the he– up.
Time for Al to fade away.
From now on no black will ever know if he was nominated because he was the best or if it was because he is black
Talk about robbing them any sense of achievement and telling them they are not good enough to win any other way.
How many Affirmative Action recipients give a rats behind whether they earned it or not.
Too true Buzzman. Many blacks i know couldn’t care on iota about “Achieving things”.. They just want them, and care not how they get them…
I believe the Oscar’s are about the best the movie industry has to offer. Not about the best movie or actor of the year that is black. If what Sharpton wants should apply to the rest of the world, we should expect a more fair outcome on who is on the NBA teams or more votes for Republican candidates, more whites committing crimes, more white abortions, more whites on welfare.
Well Al as much as I really don’t want Trump as President if he is the Republican candidate I will definitely vote for him. I would never vote for Clinton or Sanders. Besides if Trump wins you said you would leave the country so if Trump wins all I can is don’t let the door hit you in the arse on your way out. I just hope they collect your back taxes before they let you leave.
Maybe Sharpton would like to play himself as the black savior. Sorry Sharpton,everyone knows who you are now and how you make those millions for which you have not paid any taxes.I suggest you crawl back in your hole. Talent is talent and Hollywood has produced some of the best Black talent who have risen to the top of the Black and white award pile. They got their by being very talented actors and actresses;not because they’re white or black. Chris Rock may regret his performance for the rest of his life…he wasn’t funny and his jokes made me wonder just who are the racists in this country ?
You would think the liberal loons in Hollywood would embrace a little affirmative action.
The only great thing about this lunacy is knowing that the very people who pride themselves in being so very anti-racist are being accused of being exactly what they were so very sure they could never be by the people they thought they were being so considerate of…their little hearts must be pounding a mile a minute.
Hey Al, the nominees will be nominated by who deserves the Oscar, not by who YOU think should get it because of their color. Maybe they need to try harder next year. JS
to all the over-paid semi-talented bozos who appeared last night at the Oscars, in whatever form, to whine, complain, politicize and otherwise share their views – NEWSFLASH: WE DO NOT GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK. You are paid to perform, like an organ grinder’s monkey – be it song, dance, act, comedy – JUST PERFORM. And otherwise, we do not care to know your thoughts on any topic. You are not paid to think, you are paid to perform, and far too many of you are overpaid, with marginal talent. You live life as millionaires, spoiled brats who luxuriate in lavish lifestyles – you have NO CAUSE, REASON TO WHINE ABOUT ANYTHING. We do not care about your views on politics, climate, BLM, racism NOTHING – just perform and then shut up. Consider yourselves damn lucky you live in a country that tolerates your bad behavior and pays you outrageous sums of money for meager work.
When whites leave all that is left is Detroit or Chicago and high crime.Sharpton lives off the backs of blacks and the gifts of whites.
Whites are the gift that keeps on giving, blacks are the takers that keep on taking. Blacks rave about fairness while they have been enjoying mountains of double-standards, special treatment….on housing, college entry, testing, and jobs they really aren’t qualified for. All the excuses, the media bias, and the appeasement-driven, white-guilt crap is quite tiresome. With a black (fake) president that is above the law, and fostering the false-narrative of black lives matter, now they all believe they are above the law and can do and say as they please. Obama has erased any and all racial-harmony that’s been achieved over the years. One has to wonder when MLK’S wish will become reality…when some blacks WILL be judged by their character.
Thing is, blacks don’t ever wanna get judged just by their character. It would mean they would have to actually GET a good character first off, and secondly, get rid of their race card they can toss around anytime they feel like it and thirdly they would have to give up all the freebies their race baiters like Jackson and Sharptongue keep pushing for them to keep… Not one of those do i ever see happening.
Al Shapton is the ANTI-Martin Luther King!
He sees NOTHING BUT “the color of their skin.”
Al is at it again. He is a race baiting, tax evading buffoon, who ignores the real problems in the black community like 70% out-of-wedlock births, 55% unemployment, and thousands of black-on-black crimes that don’t involve the police. Instead Al focused on the Oscars instead, as the worse problem confronting blacks. It is an easy way to bash whites, and distract blacks from the real problems confronting them, by playing the race card.
The Oscars are based on merit and achievement, not on race or color. If you want more black participation, help them to improve what they produce. Don’t lower the standards, like we did in the educational system to accommodate minority students. It did not work there, and it won’t work here either.
And when will it be the year this conniving, corrupt *** pays his taxes?