New York:
“Saturday Night Live” added some comedic commentary on the Oscars and the ongoing row over lack of diversity in the 2016 nominations.
Several actors have decided to boycott this year’s awards ceremony including Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and filmmaker Spike Lee, while many more have waded into the argument with various comments, such as Michael Caine saying black actors should “be patient”.
In a sketch titled “Screen Guild Awards”, shared via Huffington Post, cast members took on the roles of Hollywood actors at a stereotypical award show. The clip kicks off with Cecily Strong onstage announcing nominees in the “Best Actor” category.
As she calls out their names and roles, a trend emerges: every actor nominated is white. On top of that, all of the films tell stories centered around people of colour, yet each role mentioned becomes more ridiculous than the last (read:
“White man with a camera” and “unseen voice on phone”).
In an unprecedented twist, the award goes to “all the white guys” in a five-way tie.
This is the second year in a row that every actor nominated for an award has been white, with the president of the Academy writing an open letter about how “heartbroken and frustrated” she is at the lack of diversity.
Ice Cube has recently spoken out about the recent boycotts on “The Graham Norton Show”, saying, “You can’t boycott something that you never went to anyway.”
His film, “Straight Outta Compton”, is up for screenplay of the year but was expected to be up for many more awards.
The SNL sketch alludes to the snub, along with “Beasts of No Nation”, “Creed” and “Concussion”.
