Jada Pinkett Smith Answers Janet Hubert's Attacks: 'Controversy Isn't Really About the Oscars' (Video)TheWrap

Jada Pinkett Smith answered criticism from former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” actress Janet Hubert about the Oscars boycott by saying the issue “isn’t really about the Oscars.”

“Considering that Alabama had its highest recruitment for the KKK for Martin Luther King’s birthday, I hope that we as African-Americans can find a way to get along and step together,” Pinkett Smith said in an Entertainment Tonight video on Wednesday.

The actress and wife of Will Smith referenced reports that a Ku Klux Klan chapter was sending out recruitment flyers.

“This whole Oscar controversy isn’t really about the Oscars,” Pinkett Smith added. “Really, in my plea to ask all communities and people of color to take back our power is so that we can use it in all sectors of our community, and right now, specifically with African-American people, we have some very serious issues that I think we as a people have to move together on.”

Also Read: 'Fresh Prince' Actress Janet Hubert Steps Up Attack on Jada Pinkett Smith

Pinkett Smith’s statements come after her husband’s former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-star posted a four minute video on Facebook in reaction to Pinkett Smith’s decision to boycott the Oscars because of the lack of diversity among this year’s acting nominees.

“First of all, Miss Thing, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?” Hubert said, directing her message at Jada. “And the second thing is, there’s a lot of shit going on in the world that you don’t seem to recognize. People are dying, being shot left and right, people are hungry, people are trying to pay bills — and you’re talking about actors and Oscars. It just ain’t that deep.”

On Wednesday, Hubert stepped up her attacks, accusing Pinkett of being “a pretend freedom fighter.”

Also Read: Will Smith Joins Wife Jada in Oscars Boycott: 'We're Uncomfortable'

“I’m a real freedom fighter. I’m not a pretend freedom fighter. I stand up for other actresses, other people,” Hubert continued. “The Smiths just irked me because they are such pretenders, and everything is a photo op,” she said.

Pinkett Smith didn’t seem fazed.

“I’m hoping we can find ways to step together in this instead of finding ways to fight each other,” she said. “I got love for everybody.”

Watch the video:

Who's Boycotting Oscars So Far - And Who's Just Mad (Photos)

Spike Lee

The director has refused to attend this year's Academy Awards because no people of color were nominated. "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!!” he tweeted.
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Jada Pinkett Smith

The actress -- whose husband, Will Smith, was snubbed for Best Actor for "Concussion" -- pondered on social media whether people of color should participate in the Oscars at all. “At the Oscars, people of color are always welcomed to give out awards, even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments.
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Will Smith

The actor announced that he will not be attending this year’s Oscars ceremony in support of the boycott proposed by wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

"At this current time, we’re uncomfortable to stand there and say, ‘This is OK,'" he said.
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David Oyelowo

The actor, while presenting a King Legacy Award to Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, pointed out that this is the second year in a row the Academy has failed to nominate a single non-white actor. "For 20 opportunities to celebrate actors of color, actresses of color, to be missed last year is one thing; for that to happen again this year is unforgivable.”
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Michael Moore

The filmmaker told TheWrap that he plans to join the boycott, and said "I thought about this all day, and I don’t plan to go to the show, I don’t plan to watch it and I don’t plan to go to an Oscar party."
Will Packer

The "Straight Outta Compton" producer called the situation "embarrassing" in a lengthy social media post. “To my Academy colleagues, WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. Period."
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Chris Rock

The actor-director, who will host the Academy Awards on February 28, made light of the controversy. He tweeted a new Oscars promo along with the caption “The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.”
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Tyrese Gibson

The “Furious 7” star called on Academy Awards host Chris Rock to pull out of the ceremony after no people of color were nominated in its 20 acting categories. He also went into more detail on social media, saying if the situation involved the under-representation of LGBT nominees, there is no question things would be different.
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Don Cheadle

The actor joined the discussion Sunday by tweeting at Chris Rock, saying he’ll be “parking cars” at the Hollywood & Highland complex the night of the ceremony.
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Whoopi Goldberg

"The View" host tore into the lack of diversity during Tuesday's episode: “We have this conversation every year and it pisses me off."
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BET Founder Bob Johnson

Johnson didn't just blame Oscar voters for the lack of diversity among this year's nominees, he told TheWrap studios must greenlight more diverse projects. He also implored African Americans to tell their own stories rather than depend on the Hollywood establishment.

"If you’re the African-American society and you wait for white America to say ‘I’m gonna tell your stories,’ first of all, they don’t know them or appreciate them, and second of all, that is not in their DNA,” he said.
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Mark Ruffalo

The "Hulk" actor told BBC Breakfast that he is "weighing" taking part in the Oscar boycott, stating that "the entire American system is rife with white privilege racism. It goes into our justice system.” He later took to Twitter to clarify his statements, in which he said that he will be attending the awards "in support of the victims of clergy Sexual Abuse and good journalism."
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Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson said his organization will "launch a nationwide 'TV Tune Out' of the Oscars ceremony, February 28. This will send the message that diversity in the film industry must be more than a hollow promise."
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Al Sharpton’s National Action Network

Al Sharpton’s civil rights organization is calling for a boycott of this year’s Oscars. “The lack of African Americans and women excluded from the major categories of Oscar nominees is appalling,” the chapter’s political director, Najee Ali said in a statement. “Cheryl Boone Issacs, the African-American president of the academy, is nothing but a pawn, and the black face of Hollywood’s system and culture that is racist, sexist and lacks true diversity.”
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