LOS ANGELES -- Cheryl Boone Isaacs, speaking on behalf of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of which she is president, issued a 190-word statement on Monday addressing the overwhelmingly white batch of nominees, saying she is "heartbroken and frustrated" and vowing to redouble the organization's efforts to diversify its membership.
The letter from Boone Isaacs, a former film publicity executive elected to her post in 2013, comes on the heels of growing concern about this awards season's voting results. For a second year in a row, the all-white nominees in the acting categories (and little diversity to speak of in others) sparked outrage online and in Hollywood, where honorary winner Spike Lee and others (including Jada Pinkett-Smith) have vowed to boycott the February ceremony.
A screen shot of Boone Isaacs' statement (with quoted text below):
I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year’s nominees. While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes. 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.
As many of you know, we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years. But the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more, and better and more quickly.
This isn’t unprecedented for the Academy. In the ‘60s and ‘70s it was about recruiting younger members to stay vital and relevant. In 2016, the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. We recognize the very real concerns of our community, and I so appreciate all of you who have reached out to me in our effort to move forward together.