Straight Outta Compton producer Will Packer has criticised this year’s Oscar nominations via a lengthy Facebook post. The Academy released their nominees lists last week, and as such received a lot of criticism over a lack of diversity, particularly in the Acting categories, which are entirely comprised of white actors.
Packer congratulated his Straight Outta Compton colleagues who were nominated, as well as the other nominees across the other categories. He then gave a list of actors, directors and producers he believed did an incredible job, but were not nominated, including “Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, Will Smith, John Boyega, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tessa Thompson, Audra McDonald, Adepero Oduye, Samuel L.Jackson, Oshea Jackson Jr, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, F. Gary Gray and Ryan Coogler.”
He responded to those on social media who are driving the #OscarsSoWhite train, and addressed the Academy directly, demanding that changes be made. Finally, he acknowledged those who have attempted to bring more diversity to the ceremony, including Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and producer Reginald Hudlin.
His sentiments are echoed by Ice Cube, who played a heavy role in the film’s production and whose son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., portrayed him in the N.W.A biopic. Cube spoke about his Oscar’s snub in an interview with Wendy Williams, saying “I’m not surprised. It’s the Oscars — they do what they do. The people loved the movie. The people supported the movie. Number one at the box office, over $200 million worldwide, you know? I can’t be mad.”
Straight Outta Compton‘s Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus were nominated for Best Original Screenplay. It was also named one of the highest grossing films of the year and one of the most successful biopics of all time.
Read Packer’s post in full below: