Oscars 2015: Thousands boycott Academy Awards over lack of diversity

Of everythingpublished in therun up to this year's Academy Awards ceremony, diversity or rather, a lack thereof among nominees undeniably dominatedthe conversation, both online and off.

One need look no further than the opening lineof tonight's show for proof of just how much friction 2015's crop of100 per cent whiteacting nomineeshas caused.

"Tonight we honour Hollywood's best and whitest I mean brightest," joked first-time Oscarhost Neil Patrick Harris in reference to the controversy, which he had also addressed with a tongue-in-cheek tweetearlier this month.

While many on Twitter have been praising Harris for addressing thediversity issue head-onduring his opening monologue, the feeds of those who have been loudest in criticizing the Academy for failing to recognize artists of colour haven't mentioned it at all.

That'sbecause they're notwatching the 2015 Oscars.

AsD.C.-based lawyer and creator of the viral#OscarsSoWhite hashtagApril Reign writes, "I'm not going to complain about not seeing faces like mine in movies, then turn around & give the #Oscars 3 hours of ratings."

I see y'all. I get it. I was watching the #Oscars before some of you were born. But enough is enough. I'm taking a stand. #OscarsSoWhite

—@ReignOfApril

Reign is one of thousands who've decided to boycott the 87th annual Academy Awards over the lack of diversity among its nominees and theperceived snubs of films and actors such as the Martin Luther King Jr. biopicSelma and itsbreakout star David Oyelowo.

Instead of using Twitter to chat about the Oscars, Reign is hosting a Twitter Q&A with actress Aunjanue Ellis from the series Book of Negroesand live-tweeting a co-ordinated Netflix stream of the 1998 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America.

Jamie Broadnax ofBlackGirlNerds will also be boycotting the Oscars to focus on something else.

Ill be watching The Walking Deadwhich to be honest, watching rotting corpses attack people in the zombie apocalypse is far more entertaining than the Oscars will ever be," she told Forbes foran article titledHow Black Twitter ignited an Oscar viewingboycott.

@BlackGirlNerds You helped inspire this post: What Im Doing INSTEAD of Watching the Oscars http://t.co/BSFFIFooDu

—@AliMCollins

Broadnax and Reign are two of the more than 10,000people who've have been tweetingabout the boycott today using the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, which racked up a whopping 95,000 tweets per hour when it was launched following the announcement of the 2015 nominees on Jan. 15.

The hashtags #OscarsBoycott,#BlackLivesMatter and#BoycottOscars are also filled with tweets about boycotting the show the latter most heavily.

I adore Hollywood guys, but I've made the decision to watch shows that align with my values. #ChangeHollywood #BoycottOscars #OscarsSoWhite

—@kim

I'm not watching the Oscars tonight 4 basically the same reasons I wouldn't go 2 a Klan rally. I know where I'm not welcome. #BoycottOscars

—@SonofBaldwin

Don't forget your #OscarsSoWhite bingo card while watching tonight's #Oscars2015: pic.twitter.com/APShWCqFSZ

—@Bipartisanism

I can't believe how long it took me to finally tap out on #Oscars. The overt snub of ppl of color is finally enough for me. #BoycottOscars

—@EvaVegaWorld

Anyone who's offended by the racist humor of tonight's Oscars should boycott future Oscars and all shows on ABC. #BoycottOscars #BoycottABC

—@celebrityaaron

On Friday, Reuters reported that several activismgroups, including Al Sharpton's National Action Network, were planningto protest this year's televised Oscars ceremony whilestars arrived on the red carpet.

"The goal of the protest is to send a message to the Academy, send a message to Hollywood, send a message to the film industry," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, head of the L.A. Urban Policy Roundtable group to AFP last week. "And the message is very simple: you don't reflect America; your industry doesn't reflect America. Women, Hispanics, African-Americans, people of colour (are) invisible in Hollywood."

The protest was called off, however, just hours before it was set to take place.

Upon the request of SELMA directorAva DuVernay, the Los Angeles chapter of the National Action Network has agreed to forgo our planned protests of the Oscars today and pursue instead a direct dialogue with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences via Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Dawn Hudson," wrote Najee Ali, political director of the National Action Network'sLosAngeleschapter in a statement.

"We continue to be fervent in our mission for expansion and inclusion within the Academy and the motion picture industry as a whole," Ali's statement continued. "We salute all the artists being celebrated today at the Oscars while demanding an examination of the sidelining and underrepresentation of artists of color and women artists. Art can change the world and the world is more diverse than this years honorees."

#OscarsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/YQkAmD8pC5

—@Lexialex

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