French Actress Nominated For Oscar Says Black Actors Boycotting Is Racist Towards White People
PARIS — Charlotte Rampling, an Academy Award nominee for best actress, on Friday waded into the furor over the lack of diversity in the Oscar acting categories, saying that the supposed calls to boycott the ceremony was itself “racist against whites.” Speaking fluent French in an interview with France’s Europe 1 radio, the British actress said that one would “never really know” how the Academy makes its decisions, and that “sometimes maybe black actors didn’t deserve to make the shortlist.” This week, the director Spike Lee and the actress Jada Pinkett Smith said they would not be attending the Feb. 28 Oscars ceremony in protest of the all-white slate of acting nominees. Mr. Lee later clarified that he was not calling for a boycott, but he suggested that Hollywood studios institute a policy similar to the N.F.L.’s requirement that teams interview minority candidates for head coach and senior staff jobs.
Annnnnnd now we’ve come full circle. This is the lovely roller coaster of race relations in America: something probably racist happens, black people are upset, a white person says that the reaction of black people is racist. Doesn’t matter what it is, that’s how it goes. You can’t come to our colleges, ok we’ll make our own colleges, having your own colleges is racist. MTV doesn’t play a ton of black music, start BET, BET is racist because there’s not WET. There are no black people nominated for an Oscar, fine we’re not going, not going is racist. Onnnnn and onnnnn it goes. It’s king of soothing, to know we will always have this constant. White people getting mad at black people for black people getting mad at white people for being racist is America’s unwavering rock.
But I do have one question: for all the hullabaloo about no black nominees, who got “snubbed”? I get that it’s not exactly aesthetically pleasing to have all white nominees, but what actors got truly jobbed? According to almost all reviews, “Concussion” was straight up “meh” and it’s pretty hard not to laugh when Will Smith yell “TELL DEE TROOF” in the trailers. The other two I can think of, “Creed” and “Straight Outta Compton,” were both awesome. Probably my two favorite movies of the year not named “Fast 7.” But I never really felt like I was watching an Oscar movie while seeing either, they have more of a summer blockbuster feel. Michael B Jordan was good and is going to be a star for a long time, but he certainly wasn’t Oscar good. And who would you even nominate from “Straight Outta Compton”? There’s maybe, maybe an argument to be made for Eazy E, but even that’s a stretch.
So, again, I get that it doesn’t look good, and racism always plays a little part in every single thing, but the whole boycott thing seems to be getting a little overhyped. Especially considering the fact that the Economist just published this breakdown of race population comparing the US population to Oscars and film roles…
Black nominations and roles are pretty much on par with the population breakdown. If anyone has a real gripe I’d say it looks like Latinos, Asians and other are far more underrepresented.
At the end of the day, if I were black, I’d just go and not boycott. Not necessarily because I’m not angry, but because Charlotte Rampling looks like a goddamn lunatic and the only thing I remember her from is being Dexter’s insane psychologist who encourages him to kill. She’s not a person to be trifled with, just attend. You’re welcome for the free advice, black people. Sincerely, a white guy.
Earth Shattering Update: Charlotte used to be a SMOKE back in the day. Holy fucking shit. Someone invent a time machine so I can go back and marry this beautiful lunatic, ASAP.
