Harvey Weinstein "If Anybody's [Planning on] Boycotting the Oscars, Don't"

The bear-bear-headed mogul has also noticed the Academy’s poor track record when it comes to the recognition of people of colour, however urges blame to be shifted away from "people who've worked so hard all their lives and prize that Academy card, and have reached that zenith, and then go on to retirement.”.

Weinstein sat down for The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast, where he expressed his excitement for the actual ceremony; ”I just can imagine Chris Rock's opening remarks. If anybody's [planning on] boycotting the Oscars, don't, because Chris Rock is gonna annihilate every one of us [leaders of Hollywood studios/distribution companies] in the first 20 minutes of the show, and it will be well worth watching. It will be an Oscars to remember.”

As The Hollywood Reporter suggested, it’s an interesting perspective for Weinstein to take, as it’s “the first time since 2008, and one of the few times in the past 25 years that no Weinstein Company films are nominated for best picture”.

Weinstein continued, claiming that ”I believe that Cheryl [Boone Issacs, the Academy's president] and Dawn [Hudson, the Academy's CEO] and the people who are currently on the Academy [Board] have their hearts in the right places”.

Later on, Weinstein says that his experience has led him to understand the reasons for a boycott of the Oscars (#OscarsSoWhite), and whilst still supporting their movement, argues that the call for a boycott isn’t the way to go. "It's that voice, actually, that gets people motivated, because you don't want the boycott. That's how people use their personal power to force change. So I look at that and go, 'Great,' because everybody's thinking about that now. I thought about it a couple of years ago because it had bugged me over the years that the films that I did about ethnic diversity never got anything. So I said, 'I'm gonna stack the deck for myself: I'm gonna put out The Butler, Mandela and Fruitvale Station in the same year,' okay? We got one nomination — for U2 — out of three movies.”

What do you guys think? Do you agree with Weinstein’s sentiments? Let us know at paperclipnews@gmail.com