ACADEMY SAYS PROTEST IS MISDIRECTED.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer Academy Awards producer Quincy Jones said Sunday he shares the Rev. Jesse Jackson's concerns about racial bias in Hollywood but believes the Oscar ceremony is not an appropriate place to attack the problem. In his first public comments on the simmering controversy, music-industry veteran Jones, an African-American himself, said Jackson's criticisms "have a lot of merit." "The problem has been prevalent for years," Jones said outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. , site of the Oscars. "Why should the movie business be alone? This is a problem that permeates everything in America - sports, music, movies - everything," Jones said. "Every facet of America discriminates," Jones said before paraphrasing a line from Charles Dickens. "It's the best of times and the worst of times." Academy officials say criticism of the nominations is groundless because the Oscars reward filmmaking excellence and have nothing to do with the industry's hiring practices. But Sunday, Jackson intensified efforts to spark pickets throughout the country at affiliates of the ABC television ABC Television may refer to:
Jackson said he decided against picketing at the Chandler Pavilion, although tonight's ceremony features almost no recognition for African-Americans. "There is this cultural bias and cultural lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout ," Jackson said, promising that African-American filmgoers would begin to use "the dollar as a tool for change." The civil rights leader said that ministers in 25 cities, among them New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and Chicago, have agreed to lead marches on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. outlets. "Beyond (tonight), the bigger protest begins," he said. Citing figures that show African-Americans make up at least 35 percent of moviegoers, Jackson said he hopes that the demonstrations focus attention to "a continuous pattern of race exclusion and cultural distortion." Jackson points out that of the 166 people nominated for this year's Oscars, only short-film director Dianne Houston Dianne Houston (born July 22, 1954 in Washington, D.C.) is a director and screenwriter. She is an African American and a vegetarian. She became interested in theater while attending Howard University with her first plays being produced around 1977. is African-American. "At some point in time, Moses had to organize a work stoppage . . . at some point Joshua had to march around the wall seven times in nonviolent demonstration. Then they seized the city. And so at a certain point, you have to organize and fight back." Film academy President Arthur Hiller announced that multicolored ribbons would be available for Oscar participants who want to show their awareness of the issue. Hiller said he met with Jackson and was assured that the problem was not with the awards ceremony itself. Whoopi Goldberg Whoopi Goldberg (born November 13, 1955) is an American actress, comedian, radio presenter, and author. Goldberg is one of only ten individuals who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award, counting Daytime Emmy Awards. and Jones are the host and producer of tonight's event. "The academy is really a reactive organization," Hiller said. "We are here to reward excellence." He also said great strides had been made in past decades toward the goal of racial fairness. "Look at the industry 40 years ago, and look at it today," Hiller said. "We in the guilds are fighting all the time, setting up programs to nurture new minority (talent)." Yet critics say prominent performances by African-American actors such as Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is a two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and director. He has garnered much critical acclaim for his portrayals of several real-life figures, such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" and Don Cheadle in "Devil in a Blue Dress Devil in a Blue Dress is a 1990 hardboiled mystery novel by Walter Mosley, the first of his mystery novels featuring Easy Rawlins, a black private detective in post-World War II Southern California. " were unfairly overlooked this year. "Devil" producer Jesse Beaton said she thought the movie's omission suggested bias. "I think a movie of this quality made with a white cast would have been a big contender this year." CAPTION(S): (color) Academy Awards co-producers David Salzman, left, and Quincy Jones, academy President Arthur Hiller, and director Jeff Margolis speak to the press Sunday. Phil McCarten/Daily News |
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