Lending support to his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee, Will Smith, the star of "Concussion", says he is not attending the Oscars night as well. By this move, he appears to be lending his voice to the protest about the lack of minorities in the list of Oscar nominees.
Smith, who played the major role in the NFL movie drama, was not listed among the best actor nominees in this year's Oscars. It now appears that for two consecutive years, only white actors were included in the list. This issue seems to be dominating the news surrounding the event, even up to the awards night itself.
Before the list of nominees came out, many believed that Smith will be an easy shoe-in for the Oscars best actor award. But his portrayal of Dr. Bennet Omalu in "Concussion" was seemingly overlooked by the academy when his name was not included in the list of nominees.
Smith said he was moved by the action of his wife. He was out of the country when she announced her Oscars boycott.
"She's deeply passionate and when she is moved she has to go," says Smith in the "Good Morning America" show of ABC. "I heard her words and I was knocked over. I was happy to be married to that woman," he adds.
The list of nominees, as of this writing, does not include any black stars on the Oscars lead categories.
But it does not mean that the academy has been ignoring Smith all these years. He was nominated twice by the awarding body. The first was in 2002 when he was nominated as best actor for his role in "Ali" and the second in 2007 for his role in "The Pursuit of Happyness." Unfortunately, he didn't win an award in both instances.
