In 2014, David Oyelowo played celebrated civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava Duvernay’s critically acclaimed
Selma. The film was nominated for four Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, winning Best Original Song for Common and John Legend’s “Glory” at both award shows. But in a new interview, Oyelowo reveals that the cast’s protests against the deaths of two unarmed black men by the police caused the film to be blacklisted by many members of the Academy for the 2015 awards.Speaking to
Screen Daily’s Screen Talks live Q&A series, the award-winning actor and member of the Order of the British Empire said the cast’s show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement directly contributed to them losing out on their Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.“I remember at the premiere of Selma us wearing ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts in protest," he said. "Members of the Academy called in to the studio and our producers saying, ‘How dare they do that? Why are they stirring S-H-I-T?’ and ‘We are not going to vote for that film because we do not think it is their place to be doing that."“It’s part of why that film didn’t get everything that people think it should’ve got and it birthed #OscarsSoWhite,” Oyelowo continued. “They used their privilege to deny a film on the basis of what they valued in the world.”[video_embed id='1971579']RELATED: Why Brandon Kyle Goodman is the viral voice you need to hear [/video_embed]Oyelowo is referring to the December 2014 New York premiere of
Selma, where the British actor, along with co-stars E. Roger Mitchell, Wendell Pierce, Omar Dorsey, John Lavelle, Stephan James, Kent Faulcon, Lorraine Toussaint, Tessa Thompson, Andre Holland, Colman Domingo and director Ava DuVernay posed in front of the New York Public Library wearing shirts with the words “I CAN'T BREATHE” written across the front—the phrase that became a rallying cry after Eric Garner's 2014 death at the hands of police.
In a photo that appeared in
Time, the group stood in the "hands up, don’t shoot" pose while wearing the t-shirts, referencing the police shooting death of Michael Brown.
Selma director Ava DuVernay confirmed Oyelowo's account on Twitter, retweeting the
Screen Daily piece simply
with the words "True Story." Shortly afterwards, the official Academy Twitter responded to Ava's tweet, taking responsibility for what happened in 2015. "Ava & David, we hear you. Unacceptable. We’re committed to progress,"
they wrote.While
Selma was released against the backdrop of protests in response to injustices in the Garner and Brown killings, Oyelowo's 2020 comments come in the midst of more unrest over systemic racism. Protests across the U.S., Canada and the world continue following the May 25 senseless death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, who was killed after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Video of Floyd’s death show him begging for his life and telling officers that he couldn’t breathe.[video_embed id='1971235']BEFORE YOU GO: Dwayne Johnson calls out Donald Trump in passionate videoschool [/video_embed]
