The Oscars hits its 2016 diversity targets with 819 new academy members

The voting cohort of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will look less white and more female when it comes time to choose the best films of 2020 early next year. The organization behind the Oscars recently announced that it has hit the diversity targets set back in 2016—the year after the ceremony was called out all over social media with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Proving that hashtag activism has a certain kind of power, the Academy vowed to double both the number of female voters and the number of ethnic minority voters.This year, stars like Cynthia Erivo, Eva Longoria, Olivia Wilde, Niecy Nash, Zazie Beetz, Ana de Armas, Awkwafina, Constance Wu, Teyonah Parris, and Zendaya will officially be part of the voting block. John David Washington, Lakeith Stanfield, Brian Tyree Henry and David Gyasi will join too. The Academy has also invited nearly the entire main cast of the critically acclaimed Parasite (including Park So-Dam, Lee Jung-Eun and Jo Yeo-Jeong) and Yalitza Aparicio of Roma.The actors will be joined by filmmakers like The Farewell director Lulu Wang, Midsommar’s Ari Aster and Atlantics director Mati Diop. A total of 819 new members have been brought on board, 45% of them are women and 36% are people of colour.

Very excited to be a new member of @TheAcademy with so many brilliant minds. Though there is still much work to be done, this class looks more like an actual jury of our PEERS than ever before, so that's a step in the right direction. Onwards! https://t.co/HnDtbneW0K

— Lulu Wang (@thumbelulu) June 30, 2020

They sent a candle and I assumed it came to the wrong address and now I realize it was for me so... I’m going to need it back now. Very honored. Thanks @TheAcademy! https://t.co/mrLkXoqZ0s

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) June 30, 2020

While the stats *look* good it should be noted that doubling the number of female members and tripling the number of ethnic minority members was made easier by the fact the numbers the Academy started with were very low. The majority position is still held by white and male voters. As the New York Times points out, looking at the Academy’s more than 9,000 voters, just 19% of current members are people of colour and only 33% are women. Four years after April Reign tweeted her original #OscarsSoWhite critique, white voters still take up a majority of the space.[video_embed id='1977632']RELATED: Oscars announce new inclusion standards [/video_embed]The Academy, for their part, has publicly recognized there is still work to do both ahead of and after the 2021 ceremony, which has been pushed back to April 25. “We take great pride in the strides we have made in exceeding our initial inclusion goals set back in 2016, but acknowledge the road ahead is a long one,” read a statement from Oscars chief executive Dawn Hudson. “We are committed to staying the course.”[video_embed id='1986487']BEFORE YOU GO: Deborah Cox was 'like a deer in headlights' meeting her idol Whitney Houston [/video_embed]