London: Lack of diversity emerged as the most abused word at the Oscars 2016, which was popped up time and again whenever there was a mention of #Oscarssowhite. The debate took an ugly turn when several A-list black actors decided to boycott the award ceremony, but, the Academy awards did try to balance it out. It wasn’t as if there was no black/non-white actor on the stage as this year they were more in numbers.
The Washington Post analysed the trend of Black representation as presenters and performers in the last 30 years and found that the number has been increasing with each passing year. These black/non-white actors apparently were good at presenting an award than winning it, if the survey by Washington Post was to be believed. In 1969, the number of presenters was 9 per cent which rose to 25 per cent, in 2016.
So, while black actors were ‘snubbed’ in the best actor/actress category, they did make their presence felt on the stage. Well, one wonders if that was a consolation for the actors who were disgruntled by the Oscar racism. For instance, seasoned black actress Whoopi Goldberg, who is one of the few black actresses to have won an Oscar in the past, was upset about the nominees’ lack of diversity, but, she wasn’t in support of the boycott. “Boycotting doesn’t work, so I’m not going to boycott, but I'm going to continue to bitch, as I have, all year round, because I'm tired of seeing movies where no one is represented except a bit of the population,” she said in interview.
The other non-white presenters included Benicio del Toro, The Weeknd and Pharrell Williams who set the stage on fire with a diversity of talent on the Oscar stage.
Abraham Attah, the young actor from Ghana, who came to prominence with his performance in dressed in the custom made tuxedo, Abraham earned applauds as he walked the red carpet and finally announced the names of the nominees.
The list of non-white presenters cannot be complete without the mention of Priyanka Chopra, who lived up to the hype. Making India proud, she was the centre of attention as a new trailer of Quantico was aired during the award ceremony.
Looking every bit stunning in ZuhairMurad chic gown from their Spring 2016 collection and hair tied in a ponytail, PeeCee was the only desi presence at the Oscars, this time. With a choc-a-block itinerary, Priyanka flew off to Miami soon after the show, to shoot for her next movie.
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