With the local elections dominating space in my head, I didn’t have a chance to vent about the Oscar picks. Hollywood’s game in selecting African Americans to receive the coveted Oscar award was transparent once again. Come on n Jamie Foxx over Don Cheadle.
Samuel L. Jackson may have sounded like sour grapes when he expressed his disdain for Hollywood’s tactic of putting rappers in movies as leading characters. Now, he may want to add comedians. Don’t get me wrong. I will give Jamie Foxx his props for his performance in the movie Ray. But my man just dropped into the movie scene.
Don Cheadle is one of the most versatile and talented actors around, bar none. He has been performing since the age of five and made his acting debut in 1985. Cheadle has nearly 40 movies to his credit and numerous roles in television and documentaries. It took all those years for him to get a starring role where his talents could truly shine without bouncing off the glare of other players around him.
His role in Hotel Rwanda was phenomenal. Even then, to add insult to injury, he was told that if Denzel or Will Smith showed any interest, well, you know it’s all about the box office.
Cheadle did research for his part in the film because he was especially interested in the conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus. When he found out the role the Belgium colonists had played in a divide-and-conquer strategy, Cheadle described it as a “How to make a Slave 101.” That ain’t gonna get you no Oscar, boy!
Earlier this year, Cheadle went to Sudan and visited refugee camps. This attentive and compassionate man looked into the eyes of refugees and reported feeling “very small n insignificant and humbled.” This was happening when Jamie Foxx was being interviewed about all of his pre-Oscar parties. Foxx may be a character, but Cheadle has proven character.
There’s a new storm a-brewin’ in the ‘wood. It seems like the black sistah-girls are questioning why the brown sistah-girls are getting roles opposite black men. Hitch is the latest example. Even Will Smith’s co-star, Eva Mendes, acknowledges the racist trend in the movie industry that tells her she’s too dark to play the leading lady of a white actor, and so she ends up opposite a brother. This looks to be yet another arena where black and brown people will be pitted against one another.
And what to make of the hype of Chris Rock as the Oscar’s host that would bring up the viewer numbers and the ratings? Rock came up short n 2 million short. That’s how many less viewers tuned in to this year’s Oscar extravaganza than the year before.