As the potential boycott of the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony continues to grow, some are now calling for Chris Rock to step down as host in protest following the still-in-progress #OscarsSoWhite controversy. "Do the right thing," Tyrese said on Instagram, sharing a New York Daily News article theorizing that Rock may in fact choose not to host. "Make a statement. We're relying on you to do the right thing. There is no joke you can crack to ever change the way we all feel."
Tyrese has remained vocal regarding the lack of diversity in this year's nominees, a crisis of representation that has sadly become all too familiar. "This is modern day racism," Tyrese wrote earlier this week. "I don't seek your validation and I don't need your approval [but] I won't sit down and sit on my hands and just let this all go down without speaking on it." Thankfully, several other actors and artists from every facet of the film industry have started speaking out in support of a boycott.
"For once," Spike Lee wrote earlier this week when announcing his decision to join the boycott, "I would like the media to ask all the white nominees and studio heads how they feel about another all-white ballot." Jada Pinkett Smith also joined the call, sharing an impassioned Facebook video discussing America's refusal to truly allow progress. Idris Elba, appealing to British Parliament regarding the diversity crisis also facing television and film actors in the U.K., spoke directly to an industry that made no spaces for black actors. "I stopped watching TV," Elba said. "Instead I decided to just go out and become TV."
The Oscars are set to air Feb. 28 on ABC.
