The Academy calls the list of new requirements a "catalyst for lasting change."
Kirstie Alley is sharing her thoughts on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' new representation and inclusion standards for Best Picture eligibility. The actress took to Twitter on Tuesday to call the list of new requirements "a disgrace to artists everywhere."
"This is a disgrace to artists everywhere...can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f**king paintings," she tweeted. "You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought .. OSCAR ORWELL."
She has since deleted the tweet, but later wrote: "I’ve been in the motion picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies. The new RULES to qualify for 'best picture' are dictatorial .. anti-artist..Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you’re bumping into your own ass."
When director Ava Duvernay responded with a gif of a Black man slamming the door in a white man's face, Alley replied, "I ask you to explore my record of diversity & inclusion in anything I’ve produced & throughout my life. I’m not perfect but have fought for human & civil rights for 50 years. I just don’t agree w mandated, impossible to “police” quotas as a prerequisite 4 a 'best' picture."
The Cheers star later clarified her original post, writing, "I deleted my first tweet about the new rules for best movie OSCARS because I feel it was a poor analogy & misrepresented my viewpoint. I am 100% behind diversity inclusion & tolerance. I’m opposed to MANDATED ARBITRARY percentages relating to hiring human beings in any business."
Alley's post comes after the Academy revealed its updated standards earlier in the day. In an effort to bring forth more diversity within its main category, and as part of its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative, films that are eligible to win the Oscar for Best Picture in 2024 will have to meet two of the following four standards:
— on-screen representation, themes, and narratives
— creative leadership and project team
— industry access and opportunities
— audience development
The new inclusion requirements -- which will take full effect at the 96th Oscars in 2024 -- were designed "to encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience."
The Academy called the initiative a "catalyst for lasting change" on their Instagram page.
"Our new representation and inclusion standards will help ensure that Best Picture nominees reflect the diverse world around us," the post reads.
The change comes after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016. Click here to see the full list of new inclusion standards.
The 2021 Oscars will take place on April 25, 2021 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
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