The Oscars Controversy Has Gotten Ridiculous, says Lewis Black

Lewis Black, the voice of Anger in Disney's "Inside Out", says tongue-in-cheek that it was the only film featuring characters of color nominated at the 2016 Oscars. During his interview, Black discusses his least favorite film of the year and why "Straight Outta Compton" should have been nominated. He says he has experienced the injustice of Hollywood firsthand and that a number of identity groups are frequently treated unfairly by the film industry.
Read more at BigThink.com:
Follow Big Think here:
YouTube:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Twitter - When it comes to the Oscars and the controversy, the best line I heard was Larry Wilmore in The Nightly Show, which I don't know if it was on the show or it was just a tweet or on their Facebook page or on Instagram, but they said that Inside Out was the only film, was the film nominated where they actually had people of color. It's a rough one. I just posted that I thought Mad Max movie was horrific. I just thought it was a — I mean if it empowered women on some level, God bless whoever the hell got empowered by that movie, but I thought that was inexorable. So I posted, you know, because that was getting nominated for stuff and I posted that if you're going to nominate something like that then you might as well — I would have nominated Straight Outta Compton instead. And I got this you liberal — you get a backlash of these people telling me that I'm just doing this politically. And then I've got to write, "No schmuck, I liked this movie more than the other movie. It has nothing to do with politics." I'm not going to spend the time explaining why I think that movie is more interesting to me than Mad Max.
Interestingly enough — I mean there are people probably — they did nominate 10 films; that didn't help. Apparently a big chunk of the voters or 70 percent, you know, there's a big chunk already who are not diversified; 70 percent are white. And the other thing is, is that women are getting screwed all the time in terms of it. And then you could go ageist too. Age-wise. So, it's not just minority. And I'm not saying — and by doing that I'm not — and then you have to sit here — I now have to explain what I mean — that is not denigrating the fact that blacks don't have a right to ask of their seat at the table, but women have a right to ask. That's all I'm saying. And films aren't perfect. It's Hollywood. And if we're going to talk about that I mean I've been bent over and fucked by them a million times. But I'm still going to go if things had worked out the way they were, I would have shown up at the Oscars. Did I feel like I was crossing a picket line? In part. But part of me didn't because Chris Rock was going to be there and I've known Chris for a long time. I wouldn't say we're close friends, but we've certainly worked together on occasions and talked and one of my good friends, Jeff Stilson, works with him and writes for him and I think that there couldn't be anyone better onstage to kind of go after what's happening that night than him. I mean you couldn't have picked anyone better. And they were lucky because I think they picked him before this occurred, so I think it was good. I think he will be enlightening. I look forward to it. I look forward to seeing him, except I'm working that night, so I can't be at the Oscars. I'm working.