Idris Elba and Ice Cube invited to join Oscars board after #OscarsSoWhite controversy

Academy Awards invite a record number of people to join after diversity criticism

Idris Elba, America Ferrera and Ice Cube are among a record number of people invited to join the membership of the Oscars committee, following the criticism of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

The lack of diversity in the Oscars shortlist led to the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag becoming a phenomenon, amid criticism that Oscars body The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences is only comprised of 25% women and 8% people of colour.

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A total of 683 people in the film industry have been invited to join the Academy, with 46% of them being women and 41% people of colour. The list of invitees also includes Michael B Jordan, Emma Watson, Tina Fey, Star Wars actor John Boyega, Rachel McAdams, Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim, Mark Rylance, Ken Loach, Sam Taylor-Johnson, The Matrix directors the Wachowski sisters and Kiyoshi Kurasawa.

Assuming everyone on the invites list accepts, this would bring the Academy membership up to 7,789 members. Everyone on the Academy is entitled to vote for the shortlist and winners of the Oscars.

Civil rights leaders such as Al Sharpton joined actors in protesting that actors including Elba, Jordan and Will Smith were overlooked for the shortlist for this year’s ceremony.

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