One of Will Smith’s former “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” cast mates is weighing in on the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, a day after Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith announced in a video message she was boycotting the Academy Awards.
Janet Hubert, who played Aunt Viv on the hit show taped her own video... but this one took aim at Will and Jada.
The profanity laced tirade takes aim at what she perceives to be Will and Jada’s hypocrisy, saying, “"I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living and has made millions and millions of dollars from the very people that you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win?"
"That's not how life works."
"Does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?" said Hubert, referring to the fact that Will’s starring role in the film “Concussion” failed to earn him a nomination.
She goes on to say: You ain't Barack and Michelle Obama. And y'all need to get over yourselves. You have a huge production company that you only produce your friends and family and yourself. So you are a part of Hollywood, you are part of the system that is unfair to other actors. So get real."
(WARNING: NSFW language)
The video was in response to Jada Smith’s video, released Monday on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.In it, she announced that the lack of diversity among this year’s Academy Award nominees was the reason she will be boycotting the Oscar’s, saying: “The Academy has the right to acknowledge whomever they choose, to invite whomever they choose and now I think that it's our responsibility, now, to make the change”
She continued: "Maybe it is time that we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities and our programs and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called 'mainstream' ones."
Will and Jada Smith aren’t the only ones publically lashing out at the Oscar diversity controversy.Director Spike Lee, who took home an honorary Oscar at the Governor’s ball last November also spoke out, saying he “cannot support” this year’s Academy Awards and posting to Instagram: "But, How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let's Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can't Act?! WTF!!"
VIDEO: Spike Lee Discusses Why He Called Out Hollywood on Lack of Diversity
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs promised on Monday that they were taking steps to review their membership in order to see how they can bring about some “much needed diversity” to their ranks.
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