Do you believe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is racist and sexist?

Having seen “Selma” yesterday, I find it hard to understand why Oyelowo didn’t get a Best Actor nomination. It was a nuanced, fine acting job. However, I would be loathe to label the entire Academy racist and/or sexist without knowing anything about what went into the decision. And there were an unusually strong pool of performances and films this year.

Yes, the member made that clear with their nominations.

They’re almost all white, all men, and the average age is 63. They’re not representative of the industry or the audience.

No, I seriously doubt it.

I disagree with @jaytkay – it’s not automatic that old white guys are racist. Some are, sure, but in an industry like Hollywood, where diversity in audience requires diversity in content, a general term like ‘racist’ for the whole Academy seems rather exaggerated.

Yes there are probably some members who don’t love blacks. And some who don’t like whites, or women, or Asians, or Jews, or Catholics, or whatevers. But to paint the entire academy with this brush seems overblown.

Or are you suggesting that all 1150 actors are in cahoots voting against black actors? Ridiculous.

More likely, when the voters where casting their votes, they looked at the 300 films to pick, and decided on the ones they felt were the best—color not being an issue. Remember, the Oscars are not the “peoples choice” awards or the “Race Quota Awards” – they are supposed to be the best film/actor/actress.

Or are you saying that a film with black stars should be nominated because it’s important to have a black in the running even if people felt there were better actors?

Selma got a Best Picture nomination. How is that not celebrating the movie?

I wondered that last year when The Butler wasn’t nominated at all and Gravity had several nominations. I saw both movies and, in my opinion, Gravity was a slow, boring far fetched movie while The Butler was a far better movie.

I’m curious. What’s the racial breakdown of the Academy? The gender balance?

@syz The linked article discusses that.

I saw the movie. It sucks. Why give an award to a bad effort?

No.

No absolutely not! Last year “12 years a slave” won almost everything including best actress. what do we have to do have quotas on the academy awards now? two Blacks, two Hispanics, two Chinese and two Martians?

The word racism is thrown around today like popcorn and it makes me sick!