Whoopi Goldberg’s Upcoming 9/11 Film And Why She Refused To Boycott The Oscars


Whoopi Goldberg has pledged to speak up about the challenges that minorities face in the film industry, especially given that the lack of diversity in Oscar nominations became a well-publicized issue at the Academy Awards ceremony this year. Whoopi’s comments came after various high profile celebrities boycotted the Oscars as a sign of protest against the lack of diversity.

Serious and outspoken about various issues, Whoopi Goldberg made it clear that there were larger issues behind the lack of diversity in Hollywood. Whoopi highlighted that the main issue is the dearth of producers who would like to finance movies which feature actors coming from the minority communities. The problem comes when the Academy jury members are not exposed to an all-inclusive star cast in a mainstream cinema and hence moviegoers don’t get to see the diversity in the nominations.

Additionally, there is very little support for small companies that make movies that may be more diverse than mainstream films. Whoopi Goldberg further highlighted that it is futile to bring up the issue only during the lead-up to the Academy Awards ceremony and that protests should go on throughout the year. She predicted that the Oscars would continue to have a diversity problem if the protests are not launched on a daily basis.

After all, this is not the first time that a lack of diversity has been an issue in Hollywood. In 1985, civil rights organizations launched protests against the Academy Awards to disapprove the stereotypical portrayal of black males in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple,; the movie which featured Whoopi Goldberg along with Oprah Winfrey.

Forward-looking and progressive, Whoopi Goldberg is a person who supports change, creativity, and human development, and she is often strongly committed to humanitarian principles and social service. Often being perceived as hilarious in real life, Whoopi is in fact very serious when it comes to making a valuable contribution to her community and to the world at large. She is quite outspoken about the ideals of equality, human rights, and social justice: issues that Whoopi Goldberg feels strongly about.

Yahoo reported that Whoopi Goldberg openly criticized Donald Trump, a U.S. Presidential candidate, for playing the race card to garner popular support.

Recently, Whoopi Goldberg performed solo in White Rabbit Red Rabbit: a Westside theater show in which the actors are given the script for the first time when they step onstage.

The show appears to be playful and funny; however, the actor has to perform under extreme pressure. The New York Post reported that Whoopi stepped out of her character to scold her fans when they distracted her by taking videos and refused to switch off their cell phones during the act.

Whoopi Goldberg is sensitive about her own personal actions which may have social ramifications. In fact, she refused to participate in the boycott of the Academy Awards ceremony as she realized that it will be wrong to blame the Academy for the prevalent public attitude towards discrimination and racial solidarity. She fears that discrimination still exists in the society and that the masses may boycott movies if Hollywood produces films that practice inclusiveness. She also feels that apart from African Americans, Hollywood must give equal opportunities to other minority groups including women, and Asian and Hispanic actors.

Whoopi Goldberg will also appear in an upcoming movie Nine Eleven, which depicts the heroic struggle of five individuals trapped in an elevator in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and their attempt to survive. The New York Daily News reported that the movie is an action-drama and it conveys a powerful message that people from diverse backgrounds need to come together to create change.

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]

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