The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues to be under fire for having nominated 20 white actors while leaving out a number of black and Latino actors.

Director Spike Lee used Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebration to show his viewpoints on the lack of diversity in the nominees, and Jada Pinkett Smith called for a boycott of the Academy Awards.

The Academy earned a reputation for the lack of diversity last year when "Selma" was only nominated for two Oscars and director Ava DuVernay was not nominated for Best Director. The acting field was also made up of white actors.

This year, the black community is only represented by The Weeknd and Jason "Daheala" Quenneville for their song "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Meanwhile the Latino community is represented with a few more nominees thanks in part to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "The Revenant." Inarritu is nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, and Emmanuel Lubezki is nominated for Best Cinematography. Ciro Guerra represents Colombia's first nomination for Best Foreign Film category, and Martin Hernandez is nominated for Best Sound editing,

However, neither of these communities were represented in the acting categories.

This year represented a potential to show diversity at the Oscars. especially with a number of great films that represented different cultures. Instead, all eight Best Picture nominees are made up of white actors. Films that could have generated diversity included "Sicario," "Ex Machina," "Beasts of No Nation" and "Straight Outta Compton."

In the acting categories Will Smith, Idris Elba, Mya Taylor, Benicio del Toro, Oscar Isaac and Samuel L. Jackson could have made a difference and been nominated.

"This year's slight of on minority camera talent is so obvious," Bel Hernandez, CEO of Latin Heat Media, said to Latin Post. "Just in 'Straight Outta Compton' there were three actors who turned in Oscar winning performances,"

"But we need to look to see who is judging on the nominating committee's -- white older males, for the most part over 60," Hernandez added. "They watch all submissions but nominated from their perspective. I can only assume that they didn't grow up among many minorities and therefore feel more comfortable with Anglo characters.

"This year however is a game changer. With Latinos set to be the largest minority in the U.S. It's time we use it to demand equal representation in a medium that is the window to the world."

The Academy's lack of diversity in the nominees represents a clear perspective in the way minority groups are represented in the media industry. Latinos are constantly stereotyped into criminals, blue collar workers and even sexualized.

Latinos make up the highest growing population in the United States, have one of the youngest demographics and are also the group with the highest buying power. They also represent 25 percent of the movie tickets sold, and yet they represent about 1.3 percent of the lead roles in the top 100 films of the year.

In Academy history only five Latin American actors have actually won Oscars in acting categories. Rita Moreno won for "West Side Story"; Lupita Nyong'o won for "12 Years a Slave"; Benicio del Toro won for "Traffic"; Jose Ferrer won for "Cyrano de Bergerac"; and Anthony Quinn won two for "Viva Zapata" and "Lust for Life."

However, only Nyong'o's win is recent. The last time a Latino was nominated for Best Actress was in 2004 when Catalina Sandino Moreno was nominated for "Maria Full of Grace," and the last time a Latino was nominated for Best Supporting Actor was in 2003 when del Toro was nominated for "21 Grams." The Best Actor race saw Demian Bichir nominated in 2011 for "A Better Life" and Nyong'o won in 2013.

The Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaac has promised change, but it will all depend on the voters.

Related