Straight Outta Compton Producer Puts the Oscar Academy On Blast

Will Packer calls the Oscar noms "embarrassing."

It seems like everybody is weighing in on #OscarsSoWhite, and the producer behind one of the only nominated
Black films is joining the chorus of those putting the Academy Awards on blast. Will Packer, producer of Straight Outta Compton and dozens of other hit films, wrote an open letter to the Academy this weekend, calling the organization out for its systemic problems with diversity.

"To my ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬ folks who are angry at the absurd lack of diversity highlighted yet again by this year's Oscar noms. Trust me, I get it," he wrires. "To my Academy colleagues, WE HAVE TO DO BETTER [sic]. Period. The reason the rest of the world looks at us like we have no clue is because in 2016 it's a complete embarrassment to say that the heights of cinematic achievement have only been reached by white people. I repeat—it's embarrassing."

Packer joins Jada Pinkett Smith (whose husband Will Smith was among the snubbed this year),Reverend Al Sharpton and even this year's Oscars host Chris Rock in criticizing the Oscars, with Smith even proposing a boycott of the show.

Still, the super producer, who is behind this weekend's expected hit Ride Along 2, found a silver lining. "It's not lost on me that this very weekend the movie that just might supplant one of the highest grossing movies of all time for the #1 spot at the box office is a movie that has two stars, a director and a producer who happen to be black. Happy MLK Weekend everybody."

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