‘Straight Outta Compton’ was a box-office smash, taking in $134.1 million in its first three weeks alone.
Many were hoping the Universal film would be up for Best Picture, though fans were left disappointed when the blockbuster N.W.A film wasn’t nominated for multiple Oscars. The nominee list, announced Thursday morning (January 14th), provoked continued protest and accusations of racism within the Academy.
Ice Cube wasn’t among the disgruntled ranks. Cube shrugged off news that ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ directed by himself, hasn’t been nominated at Oscars for best picture, saying ‘we ain’t worried about it,’ ‘We good, though.’
This wasn’t a complete snub, however. Despite not gaining a nomination for Best Picture, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Still, the low accolade count is tough to stomach, especially since ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is the highest-grossing movie ever by a black director.
‘Straight Outta Compton’ portrays the inspiring story of Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre MC Ren and DJ Yella, who came together to form N.W.A.
Following the subs, Twitter erupted in frustration and anger, with racial discrimination a strong theme. Perhaps Ice Cube is used to all that, and philosophical in his older age. “We’re used to the industry looking down on us,” Cube said. “We were the black sheep of the industry. If we didn’t get nominated, that would be familiar territory.”
Meawhile, the Oscars are battling criticism this year for an ‘all white nominees list’. The movies nominated for Best Picture by the Academy include ‘The Big Short’, ‘Bridge Of Spies’, ‘Brookyln’, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, ‘The Martian’, ‘The Revenant’, ‘Room’ and ‘Spotlight’.
(Photo by Eva Rinaldi, Creative Commons, Atrribution Share-Alike 2.0 Generic, CC by SA 2.0)
No. No, they are not racist. Before people get heated about this, they really need to look at the entire pool of black actors and the roles/movies they took part in. Does anyone really think that Perfect Guy, Ride Along, Black or White, etc. deserved a nomination? Sure, there were some more interesting roles in Chi-raq and Straight Outta Compton, but overall the field was thin. Place blame where it should go – on the movie studios for choosing films that do not strengthen black roles, but perpetuate stereotypes in order to make profits. Quite frankly, you could also point a finger on the black actors that take those roles. If people want to be taken serious, they have to act serious.
“Cube shrugged off news that ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ directed by himself, hasn’t been nominated at Oscars for best picture, saying ‘we ain’t worried about it,’ ‘We good, though.’”
Directed by himself? The movie was directed by F. Gary Gray not Ice Cube.
“Still, the low accolade count is tough to stomach, especially since ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is the highest-grossing movie ever by a black director.”
What does a film’s financial gross have to do with Oscar nominations? Tyler Perry’s “Madea” series has earned boatloads of money. By your logic, “Madea” should get critical accolades? Actually, most Oscar noms and winners are relative commercial failures. I haven’t seen half the nominated films, and I go to the movies a lot. So, what do people want – money, or critical accolades? Unfortunately, you can’t always have it both ways.