Spielberg won’t support the Academy’s new diversity rules

Steven Spielberg admits he can’t get behind the Academy’s response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

Spielberg is nominated for Bridge of Spies but was shocked when hearing that Straight Outta Compton wasn’t nominated for best picture, he told THR:

“I’ve seen Straight Outta Compton—my wife and I saw it when it first opened, the first weekend, and it just rocked our world. It was incredible. I was very surprised to see that omission,”

Although, Spielberg wasn’t convinced that its exclusion was a result of racism as he suggested critics “look back a couple of years” to when Lupita Nyong’o won for 12 Years a Slave, and when the film picked up the prize for best picture.

Spielberg believes that the problem doesn’t lie just within the academy but beyond “it’s the people that hire, it’s the people at the main gate of studios. (the industry has to be) more proactive in getting out there and just seeking talent.”

Fixing this problem by stripping Academy members of their votes is not the way forward in his eyes as he revealed that it’s something he’s “not 100 percent behind.”