It’s time to make a change! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is working toward fixing its diversity problem, a source close to the situation tells The New York Times.
Ever since the 2016 nominees list was released, featuring solely white actors and actresses for the second year in a row, Hollywood and fans alike have been up in arms. Shortly after the announcement, #OscarsSoWhite started trending on Twitter and actress Jada Pinkett Smith called for a boycott of this year’s show that sparked a myriad of responses, both positive and negative.
The New York Times reports that the Academy could be making an announcement on “measures aimed at making its Oscar choices more diverse” as early as next week. The newspaper speculated that one of the simplest changes would be to revert to expanding the Best Picture category back to 10 slots and increasing the amount of acting nominees as well.
The source tells the Times that the idea has been floated internally to bring the acting categories up to between eight and 10 slots. No firm plan to change voting or the membership process into the Academy has been agreed upon. Around 93 percent of Academy members are white, according to The Washington Post.
Following Pinkett Smith’s call for a boycott on the annual show, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs released a statement on the subject.
“I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year’s nominees,” Isaacs shared in her statement to Us Weekly. “While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. 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. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.”
