Boycotting the Oscars? It's Real Drama Now

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith recently announced that she will be boycotting this year's Academy Awards ceremony.  She, along with Spike Lee say that they are fed up with the Hollywood's failure to recognize the contributions of black actors. They are calling for other black actors to follow suit and sit out this year's ceremony.  This is nothing new for Spike, he has long been very vocal about this issue.  As for Jada, perhaps she decided that she too has had enough, especially after husband, Will Smith, was not nominated for an Oscar for his turn in the movie Concussion.  Will Smith, in years past was a major box office draw.  He's very likeable.  But let's face it, he's not a great actor. I was looking at his filmography, and there have only been a couple of times that he could have seriously been considered for an Oscar. One was for his performance in Six Degrees of Separation and the other was for The Pursuit of  Happyness. He was very good in both.



On the other hand, there have been white actors and actresses that have taken home Oscars, which left me thinking, "you've got to be kidding." And yes, there have been black actors and actresses who were robbed.  Lawrence Fishburn and Angela Bassett immediately come to mind for their portrayals of Ike and Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It?  They were robbed, robbed I tell you!  And I can't forget my Hollywood husband Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in Spike Lee's autobiographical piece.

But that's Hollywood.  In fact, it's the Emmy's, the BET Awards, the Golden Apple Awards and every other award that pays tribute for outstanding performance.  It's subjective, and I suspect as far as Hollywood goes, it also very political.  Still, I don't have a problem with what Pinkett and Lee are doing.  This is their field.  It's their business.  It's how they make their money.  More power to them.

Just remember, this is Hollywood, so you can expect a little more drama.  The plot thickens as actress Janet Huber, who played Aunt Viv on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air has her say on the matter.

I'm loving this. But not for the reason you may be thinking. I'm not laughing at Jada or Spike (by the way, I truly believe Spike sincerely wants industry-wide change) or the issue of poor representation of black actor/actresses at the Oscars.  But I'm so enjoying seeing Hollywood's hypocrisy put on public display.  These people (the various influential actors, producers and directors) rarely miss an opportunity to scoff at traditional values.  They're Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to ridiculing and criticizing Christians (whom they love to call hypocrits) and conservatives.  They gleefully spoof and ridicule anyone whom they deem to be racist, homophobic, xenophobic or any other phobic. They raise milllions and millions of dollars for every liberal cause imaginable, and even flock to schmooze up to criminals (hello Sean Penn) and our nation's enemies.  Hollywood believes that they must teach the rest of America what it means to be fair and just. Surely we should aspire to be like them, because Hollywood is the bastion of fairness and inclusiveness. (click the box)