*Will Smith won’t be at the Academy Awards this year over #OscarsSoWhite, he confirmed Thursday in an interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts.
“We’re part of this community but at this current time, we’re uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is OK,” Smith said.
The actor, 47, is one of the many to address the Oscars’ lack of diversity. Not a single actor of color was nominated for an Academy Award for the second year in a row, prompting the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
Smith, a two-time Oscar nominee in previous years, was not nominated for his role in “Concussion,” but he swears it’s not the entire reason that he and his wife are boycotting.
“There’s probably a part of that in there but, for Jada, had I been nominated and no other people of color were, she would have made the video anyway,” Smith told Roberts. “We’d still be here having this conversation. This is so deeply not about me.”
Earlier in the interview, the actor explained that the voting members of the Academy should reflect the diversity of America.
“When I look at it, the nominations reflect the Academy. The Academy reflects the industry, reflects Hollywood. And then the industry reflects America, it reflects a series of challenges that we are having in our country at the moment,” Smith said. “There’s a regressive slide towards separatism, towards racial and religious disharmony. And that’s not the Hollywood that I want to leave behind. That’s not the industry, that’s not the America I want to leave behind.”
Watch below:
On Monday, Jada Pinkett Smith posted a video on Facebook confirming that she would not attend or watch the Academy Awards in February. The video, entitled “We must stand in our power,” currently has over 11 million views.
As previously reported, Spike Lee, George Clooney, Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo have all spoken out about the Oscars’ lack of diversity.
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