Lupita Nyong’o is the latest celebrity to join the conversation about the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations.
The Oscar winner, who nabbed gold in 2014 for her supporting role in “12 Years a Slave,” said in an Instagram post on Tuesday that she was “disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year’s Academy Awards nominations.” The Academy nominated only white men and women in the 20 acting categories for the second consecutive year. Nyong’o was the last black actor or actress to win an Oscar.
“It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture,” Nyong’o wrote. “The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today.”
“I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them,” Nyong’o concluded.
She quoted writer James Baldwin in the caption of her post: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Lupita’s statement comes on the heels of George Clooney, Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee, David Oyelowo and Will Packer‘s criticism of the 2016 show, which spawned the trending hashtag “Oscars So White.” Lee clarified his comments Wednesday on “Good Morning America,” saying he didn’t call for a boycott of this year’s Oscars.
“I have never used the word boycott,” Lee told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “All I said was my beautiful wife Tanya, we’re not coming. That’s it, and I gave the reasons.”
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said on Monday night that she was “heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion.”
“While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion,” she said in a rare statement. “This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership.”
