Jada Pinkett Smith Slams Oscars For Lack Of Diversity & Vows To Boycott Show

Jada Pinkett Smith took to social media and didn’t hold any opinions back about this year’s lack of diversity at the Oscars. For the second year in a row, the Academy has only nominated white actors — even snubbing Jada’s hubby, Will Smith. In protest, Jada has promised NOT to participate in this year’s festivities. Watch her passionate rant here!

Jada Pinkette Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith, 44, is NOT pleased! This year’s Oscar nominations have generated quite an upset as zero people of color were nominated for individual acting awards. And Jada, one of the most vocal crusaders of the #OscarSoWhite movement, took to Twitter and then Facebook to reveal how she felt about the Academy’s lack of diversity.

She ALSO confirmed she will NOT be attending the Oscars or even watching from home! Whoa, things just got REAL.

“Here’s what I know,” Jada said in a video she posted to her Facebook page on Jan. 18. “Begging for acknowledgment or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are powerful, and let’s not forget it.”

The actress calmly continued, “So let’s let the Academy do them with all grace and love, and let’s do us differently.”

In her video, Jada answered her own question, one that she had posed two days earlier via Twitter, on Jan. 16.

“At the Oscars … people of color are always welcomed to give out awards … even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments,” Jada tweeted. “Should people of color refrain from participating all together?”

It’s Jada’s opinion that yes, people SHOULD boycott the Oscars this year. Her reasoning? “People can only treat us in the way in which we allow,” she tweeted on Jan. 16.

You know things have gotten serious when Jada, who normally tries to avoid controversy, felt the need to speak out and take the lead on such a public issue. Perhaps her catalyst was the fact that her husband, Will Smith, 47, was not nominated for an Oscar for his starring role in Concussion, which was a shock to many.

But Will wasn’t the only one snubbed, Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation) and Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight) were also left off the nomination list this year.

Objectors used the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to highlight the fact that the only nomination for the critically acclaimed Straight Outta Compton went to the two white screenwriters, while Creed, a movie starring a black man and directed by a black man, only recognized Sylvester Stallone performance.

“The Academy has the right to acknowledge whomever they choose, to invite whomever they choose. And now I think that it’s our responsibility now to make the change,” Jada proclaimed in her FB vid. 

We’re with ya, Jada! It surprised many that the Oscar nomination list this year was filled with white artists. The Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs spoke out about the situation, telling deadline, “of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness [of the films nominated].”

Jada ended her video, which was in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, by wishing Oscar host Chris Rock, good luck.

“Hey Chris,” she said. “I will not be at the Academy Awards and I won’t be watching, but I can’t think of a better man to do the job at hand this year than you, my friend. Good luck!”

We just know that Chris is going to address the lack of diversity issue while he’s hosting this year. And Jada’s right, if anyone can do that honorably yet powerfully, it’s the comedian.

What do you think, OJPals? Should actors boycott this year’s Oscars due to lack of racial diversity?