Victorious Elba takes a swipe at ‘white’ Oscars
IDRIS Elba made a pointed reference to the Oscars race-row controversy when he picked up two Screen Actors Guild Awards, saying: “Welcome to diverse TV.”
Many of the main awards at the Los Angeles ceremony on Saturday night were won by actors from diverse backgrounds, with British star Elba taking home prizes for his roles in detective drama Luther and Beasts of No Nation.
Principal actor Uzo Aduba picked up a gong for her role as Crazy Eyes in Netflix drama
Orange is the New Black.
Queen Latifah also won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in Television Movie or Mini-series category for her role as Bessie Smith in HBO’s Bessie. Meanwhile, in the television drama category, Viola Davis won for her role as the anti-hero Prof Annalise Keating in ABC’s popular
How to Get Away with Murder.
After securing his awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-series, Elba returned to the stage for the third time to hand out an award, telling the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to diverse TV.”
Elba has been controversially overlooked in this year’s Oscar nominations for Beasts of No Nation and the absence of non-whites in the four Oscar acting categories for the second year running has prompted criticism. Orange is the New Black star Laura Prepon also addressed the issue, saying: “Look at this stage, this is what we talk about when we talk about diversity, different race, colour, creed and sexual orientation.”
Prominent actors including Will Smith and his wife Jada are calling for a boycott of this year’s Oscars ceremony over the lack of diversity.
However, Charlotte Rampling, the British actress, has suggested that any insistence on diversity in awards ceremonies has the potential to be racist against white actors.