New Oscars diversity requirements are ‘a disgrace’, says Kirstie Alley

Actress Kirstie Alley has blasted new rules for films to be eligible for Oscars, saying: “You people have lost your minds.”

This week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new set of requirements for films to be eligible for awards in an effort to increase representation and inclusion in Hollywood, and it’s safe to say actress Kirstie Alley is not the least bit thrilled.

Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the Academy said it is limiting Best Picture award nominees (beginning with 2024’s slate of entries) to those which can meet requirements that “encourage equitable representation on and off screen” by ensuring more people of colour fill positions on a film set from the starring role to interns and everything in between, according to a press release published online.

The Oscars will be back next year. Picture: Frederic J. Brown/AFP

Alley quickly took to Twitter to air her frustrations with the new standards, writing: “This is a disgrace to artists everywhere.”

Her tweet continued: “Can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f***ing paintings. You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought … OSCAR ORWELL.”

Hours later, Alley tweeted that diversity and inclusion “should be taught, taught so well and so naturally and genuinely that it becomes second nature to our children”.

Later she also tweeted: “I am 100 per cent behind diversity inclusion and tolerance. I’m opposed to mandated arbitrary percentages relating to hiring human beings in any business.”

The star was met with heavy criticism from her followers, with a majority taking shots at her acting career.

“Well, given your career (or lack there of) this won’t impact you,” one user clapped back.

Another questioned Alley: “Interesting take considering most of the films you’ve acted in are overwhelmingly white. Are you concerned about the lack of opportunities? You know these new rules helps you as a woman, right? Studios tell who to put in movies all the time.”

“Don’t worry, a little inclusion won’t be what’s keeping that Oscar statuette off your mantle,” one person wrote.

Alley responded to that last tweet, writing: “Thank you c***head.”

I’ve been in the motion picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies. The new RULES to qualify for “best picture” are dictatorial .. anti-artist..Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you’re bumping into your own ass

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 9, 2020

Among the critics was Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay, who made her opposition to Alley’s beliefs clear with a GIF of Denzel Washington shutting a door in someone’s face.

Another follower said: “Can you imagine being this heated over giving more people OPPORTUNITY? Can you imagine being this upset because more people will get JOBS?”

In order for films to be eligible for the award in 2022 and 2023, productions must submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form, however, meeting the thresholds will not yet be a concrete requirement.

“Academy governors DeVon Franklin and Jim Gianopulos headed a task force to develop the standards that were created from a template inspired by the British Film Institute (BFI) Diversity Standards used for certain funding eligibility in the UK and eligibility in some categories of the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) Awards, but were adapted to serve the specific needs of the Academy,” the release said.

“The Academy also consulted with the Producers Guild of America (PGA), as it presently does for Oscars eligibility.”

All other award categories will be held to their current eligibility requirements.

Kathy Najimy and Kirstie Alley in Veronica’s Closet.

Submissions to the best picture category from other entries such as “animated feature film, documentary feature (or) international feature film” will be evaluated separately.

According to the release, two of the four following standards must be met in order to qualify for eligibility for the best picture award beginning with the 96th Oscars: On-screen representation, themes and narratives, creative leadership and project team, industry access and opportunities, and audience development.

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission