'12 Years a Slave' Oscars Controversy: 2 Academy members admitted to voting for 'Best Picture' winner without seeing the film
This past weekend, 12 Years a Slave took home the Oscar for "Best Picture" at the 86th annual Academy Awards but at least two of the votes for the film were from people who hadn't seen it! According to new reports, at least two Academy members admitted they had not seen the film because they knew it would be too emotional for them, but voted for it anyway. The Academy isn't known for its diversity among members, so was this white guilt taking over the prestigious ceremony?
Tony Angellotti, a top Oscars strategist, insists that the Academy has a history of honoring films that take on subjects like racism and slavery.
"Look at A Soldiers Story, In the Heat of the Night, Ray, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Sounder," he said. "This kind of socially aware vote for a movie that spotlights racism is rooted in the academy's DNA."
Nonetheless, this time around it looks like some Academy members felt "honoring" this film was more important than seeing it.
The L.A. Times reports:
The film's distributor anchored its awards campaign around the line "It's time," easily interpreted as an attempt to exhort members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences into voting for the movie because it was the right thing to do ... two Oscar voters privately admitted that they didn't see "12 Years a Slave," thinking it would be upsetting. But they said they voted for it anyway because, given the film's social relevance, they felt obligated to do so.
What do you think of this controversy? Read more on the subject here!