David Oyelowo, the Nigerian-British actor who starred as Martin Luther King Jr. in acclaimed civil-rights movie “Selma“, recently admitted to being “bothered” with the Oscar’s snub of his performance. When asked if he was disappointed with not picking up a nomination for the Academy’s best actor, Oyelowo’s response to Esquire was:
“Yeah, it bothers me,” he said. “It bothers me because it’s the best reviewed film of the year. It’s a film that doesn’t direct or act itself. It bothers me because it’s Dr King – one of the most significant human beings in American life, and I want him celebrated. Whether we like it or not, these accolades feed into that legacy.”
This year’s Oscar nominations has drawn several criticisms regarding the state of diversity in Hollywood, as no black actor was among the 20 nominees in the acting categories. Click HERE if you missed it.! In Oyelowo’s opinion however, he thinks that Selma’s snub is a reflection of the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which puts together the grand ceremony.
“The great thing is that the film is transcending all of that in terms of its notoriety and people loving the film, but that situation is representative of the demographic that votes for these things, and hopefully that’s going to change going forward,” he further stated, before continuing: “So yeah, it’s not something I saw and then did cartwheels over going, ‘Woohoo, I didn’t get nominated’, but we did our bit and that I can say for sure.”
