Yesterday, Jada Pinkett Smith announced her intention to boycott the Oscars over the lack of nominations for actors and actresses of colour – including her husband Will Smith, who failed to get a nod for his role in the drama Concussion.
Overnight, Will’s former Fresh Prince Of Bel Air co-star Janet Hubert weighed in via a four-minute Facebook video, and slammed the Smiths, implying that Jada is just jealous, and Will is a bad actor.
She began by referring to Jada as “Miss Thing” – a sure sign that shit’s about to go down – and then slammed her for her perceived selfishness, saying:
“… girlfriend, there’s a lot of shit going on in the world that you all don’t seem to recognise. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you’re talking about some motherfucking actors and Oscars. It just ain’t that deep.”
Hubert went on to criticise Jada’s proposed boycott of the Academy Awards for potentially jepoardising the careers and standing of other black actors and actresses in Hollywood.
She then turned her attention to Will, mentioning an incident in which he refused to negotiate his contract alongside the other Fresh Prince cast members, then telling him “karma must be a bitch” about his recent string of under-performing movies.
Her assessment of his acting abilities was also pretty brutal – she told him that in her eyes, he’s no Idris Elba, then added:
“Maybe you didn’t deserve a nomination. I didn’t think, frankly, you deserved a Golden Globes nomination with that accent, but you got one. And just because the world doesn’t go the way you want it to go, doesn’t mean you can go out and start asking people to stand up and sing We Shall Overcome for you. You ain’t Barack and Michelle Obama. And you all need to get over yourselves. You have a huge production company that you only produce your friends, your family, and yourself. So you are a part of Hollywood, you are a part of the system that is unfair to other actors, so get real!”
You can watch her rant in full here:
To the Smiths!
Posted by Janet Hubert on Monday, January 18, 2016
Yesterday, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs released a statement saying that she is “heartbroken and frustrated” at the lack of inclusion in this years’ nominations, and said that the group is in the midst of diversifying its voting membership.
Story: Facebook
Photo: Steve Granitz / Getty
