Surprise! Oscar voters are mainly old white guys
2/20/2012[MOST ANGRY COMMENTS] A look back at our first week.
Our headline was "Surprise! Oscar voters are mainly old white guys" and that immediately led readers to complain that we were being ageist. "Personally I can't believe MSN would allow this article to be written when it clearly is a slam against anyone who is an older white male." Point taken, movienut7 (and others) but here are the facts: "Nearly 94% of them are Caucasian, 77% are male and only 14% are younger than 50."
During Sunday night's Oscar broadcast, the words "I'd like to thank the Academy" will be uttered more times than anything other than "Shouldn't this be over by now?" But who are the people whose votes fill those wax-sealed envelopes? SPOILER ALERT: If you're an old white guy, you may already be a member.
According to exhaustive research by the Los Angeles Times, the 5,765 Academy voters are "markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public." Nearly 94% of them are Caucasian, 77% are male and only 14% are younger than 50. That might explain why "Mars Needs Moms" didn't get the Oscar nod it so obviously deserved.
