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The controversy of the absence of nominations for black actors at this year’s Academy Award nominations continues to heat up. Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are boycotting the Oscars because no black actor has been nominated for two consecutive years, and they’re encouraging others to boycott as well. Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists are also asking that Chris Rock pull out as host of the Academy Awards, with Najee Ali of the L.A. chapter of the National Action Network noting, according to L.A. Weekly, that “it sends the message African-Americans are good enough to be presenters and entertain us but not worthy enough to be nominated for awards.” That group is even asking Sylvester Stallone, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to boycott. Meanwhile, David Oyelowo, snubbed for an Oscar for his depiction of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, is also speaking out against the Academy’s race problem.
One person who doesn’t seem that concerned with the fact that only white actors were nominated this year is GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. The candidate, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin in an unhinged speech yesterday, appeared on Fox News and spoke about the outrage over the Oscars.
Trump first noted that Sharpton, one of the leaders of the Oscar boycott movement, is “just a guy who wants to get publicity for himself,” before adding that “Al would probably say that he was a friend of Donald Trump.”
Trump then offered up an argument familiar to the #AllLivesMatter opposition movement against #BlackLivesMatter, suggesting that maybe it isn’t fair for black actors not to be nominated at the Oscars, but that it also isn’t fair for whites to be excluded from the BET Awards.
BET Awards, by the way, are specifically awarded to black entertainers.
From Think Progress:
