Stallone Boycotting Oscars?
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Creed star Sylvester Stallone has said he would consider boycotting this year’s Oscar awards due to issues revolving around diversity.
The 69-year-old has a ‘best supporting actor’ nomination for reprising his role as Rocky Balboa in boxing drama Creed. The boxing film revolves around the relationship between Rocky and Adonis Johnson, son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
At the annual Oscar nominees lunch in Los Angeles, Stallone revealed he’d consulted Creed director Ryan Coogler about attending the ceremony, claiming “I said ‘if you want me to go, I’ll go, if you don’t, I won’t,’”.
“He said, ‘Just go there and try to represent the film’,”
Neither Coogler nor Creed’s main star Michael B Jordan – who are both black – have been nominated for any awards.
Stallone said that he does “believe things will change and it’s a matter of time and all talent will rise to the top, but it’s a matter of getting a new paradigm, a new way of thinking.”
In wake of claims that the Oscars was discriminatory, co-producer David Hill told Variety at Monday’s lunch event that this year’s Oscars will be “the most diverse ever.”
Several top industry names have completely refused to attend, including Will Smith and Spike Lee, after no black or minority actors were nominated in the four acting categories for the second year running.
Stallone’s last nomination for an Oscar was in 1977, for his lead performance in the original Rocky.
Eddie Redmayne, who won best actor last year at the Oscars for his role as Stephen Hawking, has discussed the diversity issue, and told Press Association: “We haven’t all met together until this occasion but it’s on everyone minds and the way it has been handled seems to be a positive step.”