On Monday, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president addressing the ongoing dissatisfaction with the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominees.
The statement was in response to the growing online backlash and promises of an Oscar ceremony boycott from such prominent industry figures as actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee.
However, there was another message distributed to the public on Monday that struck a distinctively different tone on the subject. It was directed specifically to Pinkett Smith – and her husband, “Concussion” star Will Smith.
Actress Janet Hubert, who once starred with Smith on the hit 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (she played Aunt Viv, and was later replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid), posted a video to her Facebook page slamming her onetime co-star’s wife for her planned Oscar boycott. It should also be noted that the phrase “Aunt Viv” is currently trending on Twitter.
From left: Janet Hubert as Aunt Viv, Will Smith as Will, and James Avery as Uncle Phil in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” NBC/Courtesy Everett CollectionCalling herself “Blacktress Janet Hubert, ” the “Bel-Air” star had this to say to Pinkett Smith:
“First of all, Miss Thing, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?” she asked.
“The second thing, girlfriend, there’s a lot of s—t going on in the world that you all don’t seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you’re talking about some motherf—ing actors and Oscars. It just ain’t that deep.”
She continued: “Here’s the other thing. For you to ask actors and actresses to jeopardize their career and standing in this town, you know damn well you don’t do that. Here’s the other thing – they don’t care.”
