Spike Lee Fights Racial Disparity By Dissing Hollywood During Receipt of Honorary Oscar Award
While actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, Liv Tyler, Emma Watson and others fight against the prevailing gender gap in Hollywood, director Spike Lee blasted the disparity between races that is evident in the show business.
Upon receiving his honorary Oscars award on Saturday in the Governors Awards, The Hollywood Reporter shared that the director slammed Hollywood for being biased against people of color like him.
"It's easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio," the "She's Gotta Have It" director said. "Honestly, it's easier to be president of the United States than the head of a studio or head of network."
The 58-year-old director, who owns the production company 48 Acres and A Mule, has been nominated several times for the award -- Best Original Screenplay for "Do the Right Thing" (1990) and Best Documentary Feature for "4 Little Girls" (1998) -- yet, Saturday's victory was his first.
"Everybody here probably voted for Obama! But in [Hollywood] offices, I see no black folks except for the man who's the security guard who checks my name off the list as I got into the studio," he added.
To make his point more understandable, Entertainment Weekly said that the director even dropped a consensus explaining that by 2043, white people will become the minority in the U.S., adding that those people who are in the "position of hiring" have to be cleverer because the "work force should reflect what this country looks like."
He emphasized that while everyone can talk about whatever they want, it's time that the business shifts its focus and be more considerate in having serious discussions regarding diversity and "get some flavor up" in Hollywood.
As he lobbied for racial equality in the ceremony, the film academy revealed its goal in the next five years -- something that isn't far from what Lee has been dreaming of.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy, announced on Saturday that the organization is trying to fix the issue with a new initiative, A2020. Its goal is to lobby diversity in the business, whether it's for age, gender, race, national origin or point-of-view, something which Lee had also thanked in his speech.
Apart from the provocative director, Gena Rowlands and Debbie Reynolds also received an award that night. Rowlands also received an honorary Oscar while Reynolds, who was sick at the time, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
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