Calls for boycott of Oscars grow over diversity of nominees

NEW YORK (AP) — Calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards are growing over the Oscars' second straight year of mostly white nominees, as Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith each said Monday that they will not attend this year's ceremony.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Lee said he "cannot support" the "lily white" Oscars. Noting that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lee said he was fed up: "Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all," he wrote.

In a video message on Facebook, Pinkett Smith also said she wouldn't attend or watch the Oscars in February. Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith wasn't nominated for his performance in the NFL head trauma drama "Concussion," said "begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity."

Cox Media Group