*Nick Cannon felt moved to deliver a spoken word piece regarding the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.
In a video of himself posted to Facebook over the weekend, Cannon tells viewers that his poem is not to be mistaken as “another trophy rant,” but rather a chance to focus on issues he believes are more important than boycotting an awards show.
He begins with the mention of another Oscar: Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old killed in 2009 by an Oakland police officer, and the subject of the 2013 film “Fruitvale Station.” That film, although critically acclaimed, was also snubbed by the Academy.
Cannon also name drops other police-involved deaths of unarmed African Americans like Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Freddie Gray.
He then touches more on the 2016 Oscars controversy, sparked by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s announcement that they plan to boycott the event due to the lack of minority nominees.
“We crying for votes but how many of us is on the board?” Cannon says. “Better yet, when’s the last time you showed up and supported the NAACP Awards? I want what’s mine, not yours.”
Watch (or read) Nick’s full poem below:
#SpokenSunday #Oscar #poetry #DontBeDistracted OscarDamn! Look what they did to Oscar.Nah, not another trophy rant.I’m talking Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray.Why we trust what the news say anyway?It’s blasphemous, don’t get distracted by these lottery tickets and statues. It’s just fake gold and plastic.We come from Pharaohs with no masters.What happened? We went from golden tombs to closed caskets.The Black Plague, they want us to catch it.Just ask Magic, Malcolm, Martin, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby. It’s tragic. How the enemy can tear down our community and rewrite the history by highlighting our flaws.But let he who cast the first stone, who constitutes the new laws.Nah, I ain’t never seen Empire but I serve my own throne.What I look like begging them to let royalty into they home.As for me and my house, we’ll serve the Lord!We crying for votes but how many of us is on the board.Better yet, when’s the last time you showed up and supported the NAACP Awards?I want what’s mine, not yours.Fuck getting my foot in.I’m building my own doors.Hollywood mainstream don’t validate me, yo. Like Hov say, Save the accolades, just the doe.You in this show for the business, or this business for the show?Talent and brilliance? Hands down, man we got that shit. That’s why I told Chris, man go ‘head and rock that shit.You got the Juice now. Fight the Power.Hell yeah, I’m gonna watch that ceremony where they gonna let a black man be the Master for at least two hours. So don’t waste your voice, don’t waste your prayers.Save’em for the thousands killed in Nigeria, Kenya, The Philippines, Syria or right here in our urban areas.Low America.Nah, now no one cares.What about my mother raising a son while working three jobs and still equating to less than minimum wage?What about me being placed on medication before my system could age?What about that prison industrial system turning Brothers into new slaves?Where’s the outrage? Where the complaints at?Overcoming obstacles, definition of Black.Hashtag #facts.But I guess they don’t make no awards for that.Real talk.Real Kings don’t need no pats on the back.#Dontbedistracted
Posted by Nick Cannon on Sunday, January 24, 2016
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