Friday 15 January 2016

Ice Cube: I'm not p****d over Oscars snub

Ice Cube is "not surprised" by 'Straight Outta Compton's Oscars snub.

The film - a biopic of hip hop group N.W.A - was widely praised by critics and had been expected to sweep the board when the nominations for the Academy Awards were announced on Thursday (14.01.16).

However, the only gong it was revealed to be in line for was Original Screenplay. But Ice insists he is not holding a grudge about the lack of nominations.

He said: "I'm not p****d. I'm not surprised. It's the Oscars -- they do what they do. The people loved the movie. The people supported the movie. Number one at the box office, over $200 million worldwide, you know? I can't be mad."

Ice was speaking to Wendy Williams just hours after the nominations caused a storm thanks to their lack of diversity.

Comedian Ricky Gervais was just one of the celebrities who took to Twitter to complain about the lack of black nominees, writing: "Why did the Oscars announce all the white nominees first?"

Many Twitter users voiced their opinions using the hashtag #Oscarssowhite, which originally debuted last year when Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris commented that they were honouring the "best and whitest" at the 2015 ceremony.

Will Smith for 'Concussion', Idris Elba for 'Beasts of No Nation' and Michael B. Jordan for 'Creed' were among those expected to be nominated but noticeably left off the list.

Gil Robertson, president of the African American Film Critics Association, told Reuters of the nominations: "For Sylvester Stallone to be the only nominee for 'Creed' is totally a slap in the face to some of the other people involved in that project.

"Films are making the bulk of their money in foreign markets so it's going to be a business necessity for the industry to populate their films with the people of the world, who are not only black and brown but all other colours."