Spike Lee supports the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the sweeping changes it announced last week in response to the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees – but he’s still boycotting the ceremony.
In a new interview from IMDb’s Sundance Studio from Saturday, the Do the Right Thing and Chi-Raq filmmaker said, “They had to do something, it was a fire storm of protest. And I want to thank [Academy] President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Board of Governors, for doing the right thing.”
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AMPAS’ changes will overhaul its voting bloc, by moving some members to non-voting status if they have been inactive in the industry, and will dramatically ramp up its “global” efforts to double its membership of women and minorities.
But: “I’m not showing up,” Lee, 58, told IMDB. “My wife and I, we made the decision, we’re not going to change our decision. … We took a moral stance, and we’re not gong to do a punk move and go back on our word.” (Instead Lee will stay in New York to watch his beloved Knicks face off against the Miami Heat.)
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