Michael Moore 'Happy to Join' Oscars Boycott (Exclusive)

AMPAS

Michael Moore plans to join the boycott of this year’s Academy Awards organized by Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith, the Oscar-winning filmmaker told TheWrap on Monday night.

“I absolutely support what they are doing, and I will be happy to join them,” the “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” director said in a passionate late-night phone call. “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.

“And I say that as a proud member of the Academy, as someone who still sits on the executive board [of the Documentary Branch], as someone who knows full well that [AMPAS president] Cheryl [Boone Isaacs] and [CEO] Dawn [Hudson] are doing their best to fix the situation.”

Also Read: Oscars 'Heartbroken' Over Lack of Diversity, Academy Pledges 'Big Changes'

In fact, Moore said he is a strong supporter of Isaacs, who issued a statement on Monday promising dramatic changes to make the Academy more diverse, and Hudson, who was hired as CEO in 2011, a year after Moore began his three-year term on the Board of Governors.

“I believe Cheryl when she says she is heartbroken,” he said, referencing Isaacs’ statement on her reaction to the all-white makeup of this year’s acting nominations. “I know from being in meetings with her and Dawn that they were insistent in having a diverse Academy long before this year.

“They are not looking for tokenism or symbolism – they want this thing fixed, and I believe they will accomplish that. This is not a PR move on the part of the Academy.

“But the idea that we could go two years in a row, where 40 actors could be nominated and none of them were black, is just crazy. So if it will help to lend my name to what Spike and Jada are doing, I’m hoping to be a symbolic participant in this [boycott].”

Also Read: Spike Lee Will Not Attend 'Lily White' Oscars

Moore said his own experience with diversity in the Academy came when he was elected to the Board of Governors from the Documentary Branch in 2010. “I asked about the racial makeup of our branch, which at the time was about 150 members, and I was told that there were no African-American members,” he said. “They told me that maybe there used to be one, but now there were zero. And I said, ‘I’m not going to represent an all-white branch in the 21st century.'”

Moore pushed for rule changes that eliminated the limits on the number of new members a branch could admit, and said the branch grew during his three years on the board from no black members to about a dozen. Three black members of the branch, he added, were recently appointed to the branch’s executive committee by its chairman, governor Alex Gibney.

The real diversity problem, he insisted, lies less with the Academy than with the industry it serves. “A fish rots from the head down,” he said, “and the head is over there in this industry. The problem has to get fixed in the studio system, which has been a white-dominated, male-dominated industry forever.”

Also Read: BET Founder Bob Johnson Calls Out Oscars, Black Community Over Diversity Drama

The problem is particularly acute, he added, in the Academy’s hometown of Los Angeles.

“When you’re working in New York, you have a day-to-day existence with African-Americans in the industry here,” he said. “But I can fly to L.A. for two or three days of meetings and literally never encounter an African-American in any position of power. I can very easily leave LAX, go to a West Hollywood hotel, have a meeting in Burbank, another meeting in Century City and another in Santa Monica, go back to LAX and never encounter an African-Americans that isn’t in a service position.

“I love L.A., don’t get me wrong, but the problem has to get fixed there.”

Also Read: #OscarsSoWhite Creator Doesn't Buy Academy President's New Diversity Push

Despite his conviction that the real problem lies in the industry, and that Academy is taking steps to change, Moore said that he considered resigning from the doc branch executive committee on Monday. “I thought about it a lot,” he said. “Do I want to be part of a system that doesn’t change? Or do I stay and try to work to fix it?”

And as an Academy member, will his Oscars boycott extend to not voting for the awards this year?

“I haven’t thought about that,” he said, pausing. “It always feels weird in a democracy to say you’re not going to vote. I don’t know if I can utter words like that.”

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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