Chris Rock, who is set to host the 88th Oscars, has taken a jibe at the lack of black nominees this time by calling the awards “White BET Awards”.
The BET Awards, established by the Black Entertainment Television network, annually celebrates African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year.
“The White BET Awards,” Rock wrote in reference to the network’s annual awards show while sharing a promo for the February 28 Oscars telecast, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In the video, the comedian teases three reasons why viewers should tune in, “Presenter cleavage,” “Check out who died this year” and “I might curse.”When the nominations for the 2016 Academy Awards were announced on Thursday, the lack of diversity was immediately called out on social media when, for the second year in a row, zero black actors earned nominations in any of the four major acting categories.
Will Smith (‘Concussion’), Michael B Jordan (‘Creed’), Idris Elba (‘Beasts’), Samuel L Jackson (‘The Hateful Eight’), ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and ‘Beasts of No Nation’ have been listed among the snubs for black actors and movies focused on black stories.
Immediately after nominations, last year’s protest hashtag got an update when #OscarsStillSoWhite began trending on Twitter.
Al Sharpton, an American civil rights activist, was also quick to criticise the Academy. “Hollywood has a fraudulent image of progressive and liberal politics and policies,” he wrote on Twitter. “We must take direct action to correct this.”
