ACADAMY AWARDS CONTROVERSY ...

So Hollywood has its knickers in a twist over a lack of diversity in the Academy Award nominations.  Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are going to boycott the awards and Tyrese Gibson wants Chris Rock to resign from the hosting gig.   Here’s my take on this … You all need to SHADDUP.  You’re all EXTREMELY well paid.  IT’S AN AWARD. 

No one claps for me when I come to work in the morning.  I make in a year what you all make in an hour and I sit at a desk and do as I'm told.  You all get to do something you love that pays you tons of money.  I’d be happy to be ignored by the Academy if I had a check with six zeros in it.  You folks take yourselves far too seriously.  You’re actors and entertainers.  Boycott the awards if you want but I can tell you, not much is going to change. 

Look at it this way … it’s like … say you work for Wal-Mart.  And then say you want to unionize.  And then say Wal-Mart says FUCK YOU.  And then Wal-Mart CLOSES your store and lays you and all your friends off so you can’t unionize and now none of you have no job.  THIS is cause for a boycott.  (FYI - this really happened in Pico Rivera, CA). Yeah yeah.  Wal-Mart had a superstore in Pico Rivera.  The workers were attempting to unionize and Wal-Mart closed the store down so fast those folks didn't know what hit them.  Hundreds of people out of work just like that.  You see ... NO ONE FUCKS WITH WAL-MART.  But I digress.

So, not getting enough nominations is not the end of the world.  You see in REAL LIFE when there is an injustice that affects REAL PEOPLE, well ... basically NO ONE CARES.  So cry me a river Hollywood.  Put your big girl panties on a deal with it.  You all sound like a bunch of cry-babies.  Wah, I didn’t get nominated for an Oscar!  Wah, the injustice!  IT’S LIFE PEOPLE.  Sometimes shit doesn’t go your way.  I didn’t get a raise last year do you see me crying? 

And just for the sake of argument, here is a list of all African-American winners and nominees from the beginning of time:

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

1958	Sidney Poitier BEST ACTOR	The Defiant Ones	Nominated
1963	Sidney Poitier BEST ACTOR	Lillies of the Field	WON
1970	James Earl Jones BEST ACTOR	The Great White Hope	Nominated
1972	Paul Winfield BEST ACTOR	Sounder	Nominated
1986	Dexter Gordon BEST ACTOR	Round Midnight	Nominated
1989	Morgan Freeman BEST ACTOR	Driving Miss Daisy	Nominated
1993	Laurence Fishburne BEST ACTOR	What’s Love Got To Do With It	Nominated
1994	Morgan Freeman BEST ACTOR	The Shawshank Redemption	Nominated
1999	Denzel Washington BEST ACTOR	The Hurricane	Nominated
2001	Denzel Washington BEST ACTOR	Training Day	WON
2001	Will Smith BEST ACTOR	Ali	Nominated

2004	Jamie Foxx BEST ACTOR	Ray	WON
2004	Don Cheadle BEST ACTOR	Hotel Rwanda	Nominated
2005	Terrence Howard BEST ACTOR	Hustle & Flow	Nominated
2006	Forest Whitaker BEST ACTOR	The Last King of Scotland	Won
2006	Will Smith BEST ACTOR	The Pursuit of Happyness	Nominated
2009	Morgan Freeman BEST ACTOR	Invictus	Nominated
2012	Denzel Washington BEST ACTOR	Flight	Nominated
2013	Chiwetel Ejiofor	12 Years a Slave	Nominated

 BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

1954	Dorothy Dandrige	Carmen Jones	Nominated
1972	Diana Ross	Lady Sings the Blues	Nominated
1972	Cicely Tyson	Sounder	Nominated
1974	Diahann Carroll	Claudine	Nominated
1985	Whoopi Goldberg	The Color Purple	Nominated
1993	Angela Bassett	What’s Love Got to Do With It	Nominated
2001	Halle Berry	Monster’s Ball	WON
2009	Gabouorey Sidibe	Precious	Nominated
2011	Viola Davis	The Help	Nominated
2012	Quvenzhane Wallis	Beasts of the Southern Wild	Nominated

 BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

1969	Rupert Crosse	The Reivers	Nominated
1981	Howarda Rollins	Ragtime	Nominated
1982	Louis Gosset, Jr.	An Officer and a Gentlemen	WON
1984	Adolph Caesar	A Soldier’s Story	Nominated
1987	Morgan Freeman	Street Smart	Nominated
1987	Denzel Washington	Cry Freedom	Nominated
1989	Denzel Washington	Glory	WON
1992	Jaye Davidson	The Crying Game	Nominated
1994	Samuel L. Jackson	Pulp Fiction	Nominated
1996	Cuba Gooding, Jr.	Jerry Maguire	WON
1999	Michael Clarke Duncan	The Green Mile	Nominated
2003	Djimon Hounsou	In America	Nominated
2004	Morgan Freeman	Million Dollar Baby	WON
2004	Jamie Foxx	Collateral	Nominated
2006	Djimon Hounsou	Blood Diamond	Nominated
2006	Eddie Murphy	Dreamgirls	Nominated
2013	Barkhad Abdi	Captain Phillips	Nominated

 BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

                                            

1939	Hattie McDaniel	Gone with the Wind	WON
1949	Ethel Waters	Pinky	Nominated
1959	Juanita Moore	Imitation of Life	Nominated
1967	Carol Channing (I had no idea she was black)	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Nominated
1967	Beah Richards	Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner	Nominated
1983	Alfre Woodard	Cross Creek	Nominated
1985	Margaret Avery	The Color Purple	Nominated
1985	Oprah Winfrey	The Color Purple	Nominated
1990	Whoopi Goldberg	Ghost	WON
1996	Marianne Jean-Baptiste	Secrets & Lies	Nominated
2002	Queen Latifah	Chicago	Nominated (should have won)
2004	Sophie Okonedo	Hotel Rwanda	Nominated
2006	Jennifer Hudson	Dreamgirls	WON
2007	Ruby Dee	American Gangster	Nominated
2008	Viola Davis	Doubt	Nominated

2008	Taraji P. Henson	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Nominated
2009	Mo’Nique	Precious	WON
2011	Octavia Spencer	The Help	WON
2013	Lupita Nyong’o	12 Years a Slave	WON

Check Wikipedia for the rest of the winners.  There have been approximately 75+ winners and nominees in all  categories.  This is nothing to sneeze it.  In contrast, let’s compare to the list of winners and nominees who are Hispanic.  

ALL HISPANIC WINNERS AND NOMINEES

SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME

1988	Edward James Olmos BEST ACTOR	Stand and Deliver	Nominated	First and ONLY Hispanic-American to be nominated for Best Actor
1947	Tomas Gomez BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR	Ride the Pink Horse	Nominated	First Hispanic-American to be nominated for an Academy Award
1959	Susan Kohner BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS	Imitation of Life	Nominated	First Hispanic-American to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress
1962	Rita Moreno BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS	West Side Story	WINNER	First Hispanic-American to win an Academy Award
1991	Mercedes Ruehl BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS	The Fisher King	WINNER	First Cuban-American to win an Academy Award

 WRITING AND MUSIC

1983	Gregory Nava BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY	El Norte	Nominated
2002	Luis Restro BEST ORIGINAL SONG	8 Mile	WON	Shared with Eminen and Jeff Bass

That's it.  So if anyone should be complaining about the lack of diversity it should be us Hispanics.  African-Americans are WAY ahead of us Latinos.  WAY, WAY ahead.  So you all need to just take a chill pill and relax.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fairness and diversity, but we're talking about HOLLYWOOD ... it's the movies, not science.  And besides, some of the greatest actors and actresses in the history of the movies never won an Oscar.  They are, to name just a few:

Robert Redford

Richard Burton

Montgomery Clift

Glen Close

Kirk Douglas

Albert Finney

Greta Garbo

Cary Grant

Deborah Kerr

Myrna Loy

Marilyn Monroe

Gena Rowlands

Barbara Stanwyck

Orson Wells

James Mason

Peter Fonda

Richard Gere

Annette Bening

Catherine Deneuve

Ava Gardner

Judy Garland

Julie Harris

Janet Leigh

Madeline Kahn

Mia Farrow

Kathleen Turner

Natalie Wood

Michelle Pfeiffer