Like father, like son.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. has joined the conversation about the lack of diversity at the Oscars. Jackson portrayed his father, Ice Cube, in the box-office hit Straight Outta Compton.
In an interview with People, Jackson said that since most of the nominees are white people, “We just gotta get back to the drawing boards” in order to change things.
Some people will say that the folks who made Straight Outta Compton should be satisfied because it did get a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, but the movie’s two screenwriters are white. This begs the question, why weren’t black screenwriters hired?
Then there’s the ensemble cast, who a lot of people felt were overlooked. But where the Oscars looked past the cast, the Screen Actors Guild did acknowledge their talents with an Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination. And Jackson says he’s proud of that.
“When we got the SAG [nomination], it really hit us that we’d made something special,” he explained. “I talked to Corey [Hawkins], I talked to Jason [Mitchell]; we’re all stoked about it.”
Jackson went on to credit the friendships that the cast formed for being part of the reason they were nominated.
“No disrespect to the other sets, but we knew from the get-go that we needed to work together and build this brotherhood so we could seem like lifelong friends within a couple months,” he explained.
“Corey, Jason, Aldous and I, we were constantly on each other, and I love those guys for that because Lord knows I was nervous every day throughout shooting,” Jackson Jr. stated. “It’s your first film, and if you get it wrong you’ll never work in this town again.”
Last week Ice Cube spoke about the lack of diversity at the Oscars and echoed the sentiments of his son.
“I’m not pissed … I’m not surprised. You know it’s the Oscars,” Ice Cube said. “They do what they do. The people loved the movie. The people supported the movie. No. 1 at the box office, over $200 million worldwide. I can’t be mad.”