AP TELEVISION
New York - January 19, 2016
1. Rev. Al Sharpton walking into his office
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"How do you live in an age when we can put a black man in the White House a black woman as Attorney General but you can't get a black or brown male or female nominated for an Oscar in a key position in Hollywood. So we have no alternative now but to escalate our drive since talking would not achieve it. And that is by telling people to tune out."
AP TELEVISION
Los Angeles - March 2, 2014
3. Wide shot of Oscar red carpet
AP TELEVISION
New York - January 19, 2016
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"We are doing a series of conference calls with major leaders and influencers throughout our community. Radio announcers, syndicators, ministers and civil rights groups and activists particularly those that hit the age demographic that watches the Oscars. And say to them we want to do a campaign to say: tune out, we do not have to be insulted. That will send a message to advertisers. Many major advertisers have to deal with regulators and members of congress and others to expand their businesses and do their mergers."
AP TELEVISION
Los Angeles - March 2, 2014
5. Zoom in on Oscar red carpet
AP TELEVISION
New York - January 19, 2016
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"If we cannot change the hearts of Hollywood we can at least change the bottom line and sometimes when people's profit is touched it leads to them turning around and changing their minds about institutional neglect and institutional exclusion."
AP TELEVISION
Los Angeles - March 2, 2014
7. Wide of Oscar statuettes
AP TELEVISION
New York - January 19, 2016
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"How it has happened is you have an exclusionary voting pool. The Los Angeles Times has come out with extensive data on the makeup of the academy. But again we've had these conversations over the last year and a half and they've not made a move. I think our job as civil rights organizations is to change the climate in which the conversation is happening. Sometimes you have to turn up the heat to make it uncomfortable for those that are sitting at poolside thinking this will go away."
AP TELEVISION
Los Angeles - March 2, 2014
9. Zoom out on Oscar red carpet
AP TELEVISION
New York - January 19, 2016
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"We raise the issue of Hollywood being exclusionary no blacks and browns being in positions to make deals. Excluded from the top nominations two years in a row in the Oscars. So it appears that Hollywood does have the image of liberal, image of being progressive, but there business is 50 years behind their politics, or at least what they claim to be their politics."
AP TELEVISION
Los Angeles - March 2, 2015
9. Wide of Oscar red carpet
Amid calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards by Rev. Al Sharpton over its all-white acting nominees and Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith both announcing they would sit out this year's ceremony, the academy's president said it was time for major changes — and soon.
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs issued a statement promising more diversity, and quickly.
In a video message on Facebook, Pinkett Smith also said she wouldn't attend or watch the
Oscars in February. Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith wasn't nominated for his performance in the NFL head trauma drama "Concussion," said it was time for people of color to disregard the Academy Awards.
Last year's all-white acting nominees also drew calls for a boycott, though not from such prominent individuals as Lee and Pinkett Smith. Whether it had any impact or not, the audience for the broadcast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was down 16 percent from the year prior, a six-year low.
Isaacs has made a point of presenting a more inclusive show this year. The Feb. 28 broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by "Django Unchained" producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill. On Saturday, Rock, unveiling a new promotion for the broadcast, called the ceremony "The White BET Awards."
When Oscar nominations were announced Thursday, Isaacs acknowledged she was "disappointed" that all 20 acting nominees were again white and promised to "continue the conversation" on diversity.
Isaacs has worked to diversify membership for the academy, which a 2012 study by the Los Angeles Times found is overwhelming white and male.
But on Monday, Isaacs was more explicit and promised an examination of the academy and a more intense drive to diversify.
"This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes," she said in a statement released Monday night. "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."
Many awards handicappers expected nominations for Idris Elba of "Beasts of No Nation" and Benicio Del Toro for "Sicario." The N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton" also failed to earn a best picture nomination, despite some predictions it would. Ryan Coogler's acclaimed Rocky sequel "Creed" scored a nomination only for Sylvester Stallone. (Lee's own movie, the Chicago gang violence hip-hop musical "Chi-Raq" — celebrated by some and scorned by others — also went unnoticed.)
The hashtag "OscarsSoWhite," created last year, was quickly resurrected online following the nominations. The Rev. Al Sharpton — who last year met with former Sony head Amy Pascal following leaked emails that some viewed as racist — on Friday first lambasted the academy.
