#Oscars so White

There has been - and still is - a lot of noise and protests about the facts that there were no blacks nominated for the upcoming Oscars.

People are riled that movies like Creed, Beast of No Nation and performances from Michael B. Jordan and Idris Elba were totally ignored.

Notable black artists like Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, etc. are contemplating boycotting the Oscars while others like Whoopi Goldberg have stated that they won’t boycott the Oscars out of honor for Chris Rock who will be hosting the show. This brings us to another point raised by Smith where she says that - and I quote: "At the Oscars ... people of color are always welcomed to give out awards ... even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments."

Now, I am yet to see Creed but I have seen Beast of No Nation and truly (to me) there was nothing fantastic about Elba’s acting. Was it because he acted the role of an African? Was that meant to be difficult? He didn’t even get it 100 percent right. Did I notice because I’m African? Maybe.

Let’s look at other movies by blacks in America. They are mostly mediocre and predictable. The most popular so far are the Tyler Perry Movies. The movies are always predictable. Most movies starring Morris Chestnut, Blair Underwood, Michael Ealy, etc. are like the American version of our Nollywood movies, an example was the 2015 movie “The perfect Guy” with Morris Chestnut and Michael Ealy.

The only stand - out black performers who are always in blockbuster or critically acclaimed movies are Denzel Washington and Will Smith. Wesley Snipes used to have it but lost it along the way. Right now, he’s only churning out movies to keep out of jail.

It is really a question of numbers. Nominations are based mostly on votes and the number of quality movies out there. Denzel and Will are too few to compete against the Brad Pitts, Robert DeNiros, and Matt Damons of this world.

America is racist, yes we know this but a balance really has to be struck or we face a situation in the future where the politically correct nature of America will nominate undeserving minorities.

A big example was Halle Berry being awarded an Oscar for the role in the movie Monster’s Ball. What was that for? All because people had been screaming for black people to be awarded and then she was awarded for having an orgasm on the big screen. Is that what acting ability is now based on?