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Stephen King criticized for criticizing Oscar nominations

People are criticizing the Academy’s overwhelmingly white Oscar nominees for 2020, especially the snubs of black and Latino actors like Jennifer Lopez for her supporting role in “Hustlers.” And now author Stephen King, an outspoken liberal on most every issue, is in hot water for saying he wouldn’t consider diversity when voting for an Oscar nominee.

“As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said, I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong,” King tweeted.

Many of King’s followers weren’t happy with his tweets. One user, @AquaBirdie, pointed out the lack of diversity in the Academy itself.

“It’s more about diversity of the nominating/voting pool. If most projects that get made are by one type of human and that same one type of human does the nominating/voting then the awards will always be for one type of human,” she wrote.

But King stood by his remarks, saying representation is more important for minorities.

“The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts,” King tweeted.