Halle Berry’s ‘Heartbreak’ Over Oscars Race Row

The winner of the 2001 Best Actress Academy Award joins Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee in criticism of this year’s nominations.

Actress Halle Berry has described the lack of diversity in Hollywood as “heartbreaking”.

Her comments come amid a deepening race row over the dominance of white actors in this year’s Oscar nominations.

Not a single black, Asian or Hispanic performer has been put forward for a Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor or Supporting Actress Academy Award.

Ms Berry remains the only black woman to receive an Oscar for Best Actress, for her role in Monster’s Ball in 2001.

She said: “That win almost 15 years ago was iconic.
“I believed that in that moment, that when I said ‘The door tonight has been opened,’ I believed that with every bone in my body that this was going to incite change because this door, this barrier, had been broken.

“And to sit here almost 15 years later, and knowing that another woman of colour has not walked through that door, is heartbreaking.

“It’s heartbreaking, because I thought that moment was bigger than me. It’s heartbreaking to start to think maybe it wasn’t bigger than me.”
She blamed a lack of truthful storytelling in Hollywood, saying that it contributed to the lack of diversity.

“The films … that are coming out of Hollywood aren’t truthful,” she said.

“And the reason they’re not truthful … is that they’re not really depicting the importance and the involvement and the participation of people of colour in our American culture.
“When we really live up to our responsibility in Hollywood and challenge ourselves to be truthful and tell the truth with our storytelling, then people of colour will be there in a real competitive way and it won’t be about inclusion or diversity because if we’re telling the truth, that inclusion and diversity will be a byproduct of the truth and will naturally be there.”

Ms Berry’s comments follow Will Smith, his wife Jada Pickett Smith and Spike Lee saying they plan not to attend this year’s awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Concerns over the lack of nominations for non-white actors have also been expressed by Dustin Hoffman, Mark Ruffalo, and Matt Damon, among others.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organiser of the Oscars, says it plans to double its membership of women and minorities by 2020 through a programme of affirmative action that includes stripping some older members of voting privileges. Skynews.com

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