Los Angeles – Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin told Entertainment Tonight that African-American comedian Chris Rock will not step down from hosting the Oscars this year despite all the outrage over the lack of diversity among nominees. On the contrary, Rock decided to rewrite his opening monologue to address the controversy surrounding the Academy Awards.
“Chris is hard at work. He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room. As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show.’ Chris is that thorough. He’s that brilliant, and I have 1000 percent confidence that he will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks,” Hudlin told ET.
The producer claimed the Academy is pretty much ok with Rock’s move. He said the public should expect jokes referring to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. The African-American writer, director and producer told ET that the Academy is ready and excited for him to do that, as they know that’s what the public wants, and they deliver what the people want.
The spread of #OscarsSoWhite and the subsequent boycott by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike lee, among other whites and non-whites, actors called for Chris Rock to withdraw from hosting the ceremony but the comedian decided to stay, but confronting the controversy from the stage during the broadcast.
In addition to Smith, Pinkett and Lee, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Tessa Thompson, Lupita Nyong’o and Stacey Dash are among the many who have spoken out in favor of the boycott.
The Academy vowed to make historic changes by 2020 to guarantee more diversity in the nominees. The organization decided to make changes in its mostly white, mostly male membership and increase the number of women and minority voters.
Source: ET Online