Listen Live
Power 107.5 Featured Video
CLOSE
Oscars Exhibited in Beverly Hills

Source: David McNew / Getty

The President of the Oscars finally speaks out about the lack of African-American actors or actresses being represeted.

via Bossip

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs Releases Statement About Lack Of Diversity At Oscars

People of color have been seething over the past week or so after the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards were announced and not a single black name was read.

The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite is currently trending on Twitter and some have begun to put pressure on the show’s host, Chris Rock, to step down from his post and boycott the event.

Last night, the president of the Academy, a black woman, Cheryl Boone Isaacs released a statement expressing her frustration and disappointment with the “lack of inclusion”

Read what she had to say below:

I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year’s nominees. 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.

As many of you know, we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years. but the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more, and better and more quickly.

This isn’t unprecedented for the Academy. In the ’60s and ’70s it was about recruiting younger members to stay vital and relevant. In 2016, the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. We recognize the very real concerns of our community, and I so appreciate all of you who have reached out to me in our effort to move forward together.

It’s beyond sad that not single black person was deemed worthy of even a nomination. Sure, there weren’t many “black” movies released last year, but of the ones that were SURELY there was someone who deserved recognition for their work.

What do you think of Cheryl Boone Isaacs statement?