“The View” panel took on the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, and decided the new rules implemented by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences over the weekend are probably not the solution to the problem.
“My thing with this Oscar thing is, the issue is not the Academy,” said Whoopi Goldberg, an Oscar winner herself for “Ghost” in 1991. “Even if you fill the academy with black and Latino and Asian members, if there’s no one on the screen to vote for, you’re not going to get the outcome that you want.”
Goldberg touted her own win as a reason why the issue is not that the Academy is discriminating against black actors.
“I won once, so it can’t be that racist,” she said. “I’ve been black the whole time.”
When Paula Faris brought up the changes the Academy made, including enforcing term limits and searching extra hard for new diverse members, Goldberg put it quite simply.
“If it’s not on the screen, you can’t vote for it,” she said. “It has to be on the screen.”
So could the problem be fixed by hiring more screenwriters writing for diverse casts and audiences?
“You need the Shonda Rhimes of movies,” said guest co-host Sara Haines. “She’s even said, she’s reflecting what’s around her. Before you can even worry about producers, production houses and the academy, you need good material that’s written about the life in front of you.”
“You need directors and producers who will say, ‘Hey, what about so and so?’” agreed Goldberg. “They need to be aware that the picture is not complete… This fight is only going to go on if people recognize there’s an issue. Not just during the Oscars, but during the year. If people say, ‘Where is so and so? I don’t see this, I don’t see that.’ That’s what’s going to make the change. Not the Academy, but us.”