Pinkett Smith says Oscars backlash not really about Oscars

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FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2015 file photo, Jada Pinkett Smith arrives at the world premiere of "Focus" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Pinkett Smith says the backlash to the all-white acting nominees for the Academy Awards “isn’t really about the Oscars.” Pinkett Smith on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, said she wouldn’t attend or watch the Feb. 28 ceremony in a video that helped prompt calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Jada Pinkett Smith says the backlash to the all-white acting nominees for the Academy Awards “isn’t really about the Oscars.”

Pinkett Smith on Monday said she wouldn’t attend or watch the Feb. 28 ceremony. A video she posted helped prompt calls for a boycott of the awards show.

In another video posted Wednesday by “Entertainment Tonight” she says, “This whole Oscar controversy isn’t really about the Oscars.”

Pinkett Smith says her plea was about black people taking back their power in an industry that doesn’t value people of colour.

Pinkett Smith on Tuesday thanked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its president for promptly responding to the outcry. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has pledged “dramatic changes” to diversify the academy’s membership.

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