Oscar Voter Stephen King Says He’d ‘Never Consider Diversity in Matters of Art’
Stephen King was the latest in Hollywood to weigh in on the conversation over diversity at the Oscars, and the horror author argued Tuesday that he would “never consider” factoring in diversity when it comes to evaluating art or voting on awards.
King said as a member of the Academy’s writers branch, he was only able to vote on Best Picture and the two screenplay categories, so he wouldn’t have had a say in influencing the lack of racial diversity in the acting categories (which only produced one black acting nominee, Cynthia Erivo) or the lack of women in the directors’ race (five men were nominated for the second year in a row).
“For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up,” King wrote on Twitter. “That said, I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.”
*Also Read:* Oscars 2020: Fewer Movies (and Nonwhite Actors) Get More Nominations, and That's No Joke
King’s position of only voting on merit met with some push back online by other writers, feminists and filmmakers who said that King’s take ignores the implicit bias of what’s seen as important or good in the industry and the idea that diversity and quality are separate entities.
“As a fan, this is painful to read from you. It implies that diversity and quality cannot be synonymous. They are not separate things,” writer Roxane Gay said in response. “Quality is everywhere but most industries only believe in quality from one demographic. And now, here you are.”
“Me when the privilege protectors get exhausted with mansplaining and whitesplaining @StephenKing‘s tweets to me and decide to move away from my timeline and get a life,” director Ava DuVernay said in a tweet along with a video of “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho discovering he got his Oscar nomination.
*Also Read:* Oscars 2020: Women Scored Record 31% of Nominations Overall Despite Female Director Snub
King later said the real problem is in making sure everyone has a “fair shot” to be nominated and represented in the industry.
“The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts,” King wrote. “You can’t win awards if you’re shut out of the game.”
For the second year in a row, no women were nominated in the Best Director category when the Oscar nominees were announced Monday morning, with the Academy snubbing filmmakers like Alma Har’el, Lulu Wang, Melina Matsoukas, Lorene Scafaria and most notably Greta Gerwig, whose film “Little Women” received six nominations but not for Best Director.
*Also Read:* Dear Academy: Was 'Harriet' Really the Best of Black Cinema Last Year? (Guest Blog)
However, a count of the nominees by TheWrap showed that a record 31% of all the nominees in the field were women, a noticeable increase from last year when just under 28% of the overall nominees were women.
See King’s tweets below along with some responses below:
As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said…
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
…I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
You can't win awards if you're shut out of the game.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
As a fan, this is painful to read from you. It implies that diversity and quality cannot be synonymous. They are not separate things. Quality is everywhere but most industries only believe in quality from one demographic. And now, here you are.
— roxane gay (@rgay) January 14, 2020
Me when the privilege protectors get exhausted with mansplaining and whitesplaining @StephenKing’s tweets to me and decide to move away from my timeline and get a life. pic.twitter.com/tmfK0nBLGU
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 14, 2020
"never considering diversity" is, in fact, making a choice to privilege certain works of art over others. WOMEN CRIME WRITERS, a collection I know you have read, would not exist without the specific goal of diversity, in the form of reviving neglected/overlooked writers.
— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) January 14, 2020
They are too, the problem is the perception of quality is warped.
Trust me, I have had a career presenting as two sexes and you can produce exactly the same quality work, be praised as a man and be dismissed as woman.
Meritocracy does not work when merit is not perceived equally https://t.co/8013sqZwiv
— Delaney King????️???? (@delaneykingrox) January 14, 2020
I am second to no one in my admiration for Stephen King, but no one's art is being produced in a vacuum.
— Laura Lippman (@LauraMLippman) January 14, 2020
I greatly respect you, but this is a really bad take. It presumes a level playing field, which isn't the case. And it completely ignores the issue of bias.
— Ali Trotta (@alwayscoffee) January 14, 2020
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Adrien Brody to Star in Stephen King Adaptation 'Jerusalem's Lot' at Epix
Alex Ross Perry to Direct Adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Half' for MGM
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