Oscar diversity efforts 'not about political correctness,' Academy says

Oscar organizers on Wednesday denied they were bowing to political correctness by bringing more women and people of color into the ranks, and said they were determined to cull voters who no longer play an active role in contemporary movie-making. In the first major interview since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced sweeping measures to recruit new members, Chief Executive Dawn Hudson and President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said they would take the heat from members who will be stripped of their rights to vote on future Oscar nominees and winners. Because unless you have the best artists as members, unless you have the best artists voting on the Academy Awards, you don't have a real reflection of the best of our film culture," Hudson told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview released on Wednesday.