You can add Dustin Hoffman to the list of “woke” white people in Hollywood. Hoffman has joined actors like Danny DeVito and Mark Ruffalo when it comes to speaking out against the Oscars and their lack of diversity.
On Wednesday, during the opening of New York City’s Metrograph theater, the first independently owned movie theater to open in Manhattan in more than decade, Hoffman had a few words for the Oscars and society as a whole.
“Well, it’s always been that way. It’s not anything new; like Chris Rock, I heard, said, ‘Why this year?’” Hoffman stated when asked about racism in Hollywood.
Hoffman went on to say that Hollywood’s racism and lack of diversity are just a “reflection of what the country is.”
So what did Hoffman do while all eyes were on the Oscars Sunday night?
Well, he did just what Spike Lee did: attend a basketball game.
“I went to see the Knicks game and saw my friend Spike Lee there all dressed up for the Oscars, but he was at the Knick game,” Hoffman told the Associated Press.
As for Hoffman’s suggestion on how to rid Hollywood of its racism, Hoffman said it’ll change only “when the people that are oppressed force it to change.”
Personally, I don’t think the onus should be put on the oppressed, but if more people joined in solidarity with those “oppressed,” change would happen. Lip service isn’t enough.