The Oscars are once again on blast for their historic prejudice against films by and about black people.
Amidst ongoing national protests against systemic racism, Selma star David Oyelowo appeared in Screen International's live Q&A series "Screen Talks" to revisit the film's infamous lack of recognition at the 87th Academy Awards. Although the universally acclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. biopic was nominated for Best Picture and won Best Original Song, it was shut out of all other major categories in a year marked by lacking diversity — inspiring the rise of #OscarsSoWhite.
Now, Oyelowo says the Selma snub was retaliation for the cast and crew openly protesting the 2014 killing of Eric Garner by NYPD police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed Garner in a chokehold that resulted in Garner's death.
"‘We are not going to vote for that film because we do not think it is their place to be doing that.’"
“Six years ago, Selma coincided with Eric Garner being murdered," Oyelowo said. “That was the last time we were in a place of ‘I Can’t Breathe.' I remember at the premiere of Selma us wearing ‘I Can’t Breathe’ t-shirts in protest. Members of the Academy called in to the studio and our producers, saying, ‘How dare they do that? Why are they stirring S-H-I-T?’ and ‘We are not going to vote for that film because we do not think it is their place to be doing that.’"
“It’s part of why that film didn’t get everything that people think it should’ve got and it birthed #OscarsSoWhite,” Oyelowo continued. “They used their privilege to deny a film on the basis of what they valued in the world.”
Director Ava DuVernay later reiterated Oyelowo's statements, retweeting an article that recapped the "Screen Talks" session and commenting, "True story."
Oyelowo's assessment of events is further supported by an anonymous interview with a female Academy member featured in a Hollywood Reporter article from 2015 (h/t Vulture), which includes the following: "When a movie about black people is good, members vote for it. But if the movie isn't that good, am I supposed to vote for it just because it has black people in it? I've got to tell you, having the cast show up in t-shirts saying 'I Can't Breathe' — I thought that stuff was offensive. Did they want to be known for making the best movie of the year or for stirring up shit?"
The Academy has since responded to Oyelowo and DuVernay's allegations, tweeting late Thursday, "Ava & David, we hear you. Unacceptable. We're committed to progress."
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Twitter users were quick to demand concrete explanations of The Academy's plans for change — emphasizing that the majority of the Academy's voting body remains white and calling back to tone-deaf decisions that reflect that reality. Earlier this year, creator of #OscarsSoWhite April Reign penned an op-ed for Variety reacting to the 2020 Oscar nominations saying, "With a mostly white Academy, what could we expect?"
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Selma is currently available to stream for free throughout the month of June on all U.S .digital platforms — just click "Buy/Rent" and you'll see the typical rental fee marked down to zero.
"We’ve gotta understand where we’ve been to strategize where we’re going," DuVernay tweeted to announce Selma's streaming availability. "History helps us create the blueprint. Onward."
