Jada Pinkett Smith was cool, calm, and collected and didn’t break a sweat when she was asked to respond to Janet Hubert’s criticism of her insistence that African-American actors and actresses should boycott the Academy Awards.
Along Jada and Will Smith, famed director Spike Lee is also opting not to attend in protest of the perceived lack of ethnic diversity in this year’s nominees.
Following Smith’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day announcement that she would not attend this year’s ceremony, Hubert posted a video on Facebook, calling Smith’s actions “suspect.”
Here’s the video of Janet Hubert’s comment from Kiara Collins YouTube account:
“Here’s the other thing, for you to ask other actors to jeopardize their careers … You know damn well, you don’t do that,”
Hubert said. “They don’t care! I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people who are doing this… That is not the way life works, baby. It’s very suspect to me.”
Janet Hubert played Smith’s Aunt Vivian on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for three years in the early ‘90s.
When Entertainment Tonight asked her how she felt about the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum’s fiery remarks dissing her and her husband, Will Smith, Pinkett Smith kept things civil.
Smith calmly responded to Hubert’s biting retort:
“Considering that Alabama had its highest recruitment for the KKK for Martin Luther King’s birthday, I hope that we as African Americans can find a way to get along and step together,” Smith said. “Here’s the deal: This whole Oscars controversy isn’t really about the Oscars. Really, it’s my plea to ask our community, people of color, to take back our power so that we can use it in all sectors of our community, and right now, specifically with African American people, we have some very serious issues that we as a people have to move together on.”
She added, “I’m hoping we can find ways to step together in this instead of finding ways to fight each other. I got love for everybody.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f83SALZcyQI
