In an interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, Will Smith has announced that he also won’t be attending this year’s Oscars, echoing his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s call to action: “My wife’s not going. It would be awkward for me to show up with Charlize [Theron]. No, we’ve discussed it. We’re part of this community. But at this current time, we’re uncomfortable to stand there and say this is okay.†Like his wife, Smith says that this year, the Oscars have failed to acknowledge the “American superpower†of diversity: “For my part, I think I have to protect and fight for the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it’s not reflecting that beauty.â€
Noting the two times he lost an Oscar to other black men (Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker), Smith says he now “feels like it’s [the Academy] going the wrong direction.†Though Smith says he didn’t know about Pinkett Smith’s controversial video before it went live, he “heard her words and was knocked over.†And he’s confident that her video wasn’t just a biased reaction to his snub for Concussion: “This is so deeply not about me. This is about children that are gonna watch this show, and they’re not going to see themselves represented.â€