There has been a lot in the news lately about how blacks and women are underrepresented among the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Complaints have come from certain quarters that the make-up of the voters is not diverse and does not represent the American people, one-third of which are people of color.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that of the 5,765 voting members of the Academy, 94 percent are white and 77 percent are male, with blacks at only two percent and Latinos at less than two percent. The report also indicated that besides the absence of racial and gender diversity, there was a lack of age diversity because the median age of the voters is 62, and only 14 percent are under the age of 50.
94 percent white? That’s not politically correct! I’m sure that even though black actress Octavia Spencer won the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in The Help, the race card players will claim that the lack of black Academy voters led to Meryl Streep’s (The Iron Lady) win over black actress Viola Davis (The Help) for the Best Actress award.
While Viola Davis gave an Oscar winning performance in The Help, she did not lose because 94 percent of the Academy voters were white. She lost because Meryl Streep deserved to win the Best Actress award. The predominantly white makeup of the voters had nothing to do with it.
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