We have good news and bad news, #OscarsSoWhite supporters.
The good? The Academy just added a slew of minority members to its voting body. The bad? The majority makeup of the body is still white. So white.
TMZ reports 683 people were added to The Academy voting body on Wednesday (June 29). Forty-six percent of the newbies are female, and 41 percent are people of color. New members include Idris Elba, Gabrielle Union and John Boyega. However, when you include the pre-existing members, minorities still only make up a sliver of the overall Academy. Gosh darn it, Hollywood!
As this handy-dandy graphic shows, the new class bumps the total female Academy members from 25 percent to 27 percent and POC members from 8 percent to 11 percent. In reality, that’s only a 2 to 3 percent increase. Plus, this still means 73 percent of Academy members are men. And 89 percent are white.
Translation? Don’t expect much of a change in the nominees next year. O.K., O.K.–that’s our pessimism talking. Who knows? Maybe the new faces mixed with diversity conversations will change who wins Oscars in 2017.
But then again, there is a 50 percent chance Donald Trump will be our next president, so all is doomed.
Relive the biggest WTF moments from the 2016 Oscars in the video below.
