Mark Ruffalo Clears Up 'Confusion,' Says He's Going to Oscars
— -- Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo took to Twitter today to clear up any "confusion" that an earlier interview may have caused about whether he was attending the Oscars.
"To clear up any confusion. I will be going to the Oscars in support of the victims of clergy Sexual Abuse and good journalism. #Spotlight," he wrote. "I hope the Oscar Ban movement opens the way for my peers to open their hearts to the #BlackLivesMatter movement as well."
The mix-up that the movie star was referring to was when he told the BBC in a previous interview that he was "weighing" whether or not to go to the Oscars after all the nominees in the lead categories were white for the second year in a row. This has led others, like Will Smith and Spike Lee, to boycott the awards show this year.
"I woke up in the morning thinking, ‘What is the right way to do this?’ Because if you look at Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, what he was saying is the good people who don’t act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposely not acting and don’t know the right way," Ruffalo told the BBC.
Ruffalo, 48, was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Spotlight." He told the BBC that it's not just the Oscars that has a diversity problem. "The entire American system is rife with white privilege racism," he said.
Will Smith told ABC News this week that he was not going to the show after the "Concussion" star's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, said she would not be attending.
“My wife’s not going. It would be awkward to show up with Charlize [Theron]," Smith, 47, joked. "We're part of this community but at this current time, we're uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is OK. There is a position that we hold in this community, and if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem."
Spike Lee told "Good Morning America" that he will be at a New York Knicks basketball game instead.
George Clooney and Lupita Nyong'o have also joined the cause and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite is trending on Twitter. Nyongo, an Oscar winner herself, also took to Instagram with a passionate message, which read, "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them."
Oscars host Chris Rock addressed the issue on Twitter with a joke this weekend. "The #Oscars. The White BET Awards." That tweet is pinned to the top of his page.
But fellow actors aren't finding the situation funny at all. Tyrese Gibson, 37, called for Rock to step down as host when he spoke to People magazine this week.
"There is no joke that he can crack. There is no way for him to seize the moment and come into this thing and say, ‘I’m going to say this and say that I’m going to address the issue but then I’m still going to keep my gig as the host,’" the "Fast & Furious" actor told the magazine.
The Oscars are set to air on Feb. 28 on ABC.
