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 "I have never used the word boycott," Lee said in an
interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" program. "All I said
was ... my beautiful wife Tonya, we’re not coming. That’s it,
and I gave the reasons. I never used the word boycott."
The comments by the two-time Academy Award nominee and honorary
Oscar recipient came amid concerns about a lack of racial
minorities in the movie industry and at the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members for the second
consecutive year nominated no actors of color.
Lee said Hollywood needs to widen its diversity with a program
similar to one in the National Football League that requires
teams to interview black candidates for head coaching jobs.
"That has increased the number of minority coaches and
executives in the NFL and that should be used ... because we
can’t go to that old tired realm, ‘Well, we can’t find any
qualified candidates,'" Lee said.
Lee, a noted basketball fan, said he planned to attend the New
York Knicks game when the Oscars are presented on Feb. 28.
The controversy has put pressure on the academy, whose top
leader said this week it would review membership recruitment and
pledged to make "big changes."
Lee first announced on Monday that he would not attend the
ceremony in California, timing his action with the national
holiday commemorating slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
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A day later he echoed those comments, pushing for affirmative action
to address racial disparity in Hollywood as a number of celebrities
also called for changes industry-wide, with some pledging to skip
the ceremony in protest.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton urged Americans to "tune out" the
ceremony while documentary-maker Michael Moore and actress Jada
Pinkett-Smith said they would boycott it. Other directors and actors
rejected such action.
The race issue has put a spotlight on Oscars host Chris Rock and
whether the comedian should drop out in solidarity with those
rejecting the ceremony.
"Chris Rock is a grown ... man," Lee told ABC. "He's just going to
do what he's wants to do and I support him either way."
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott)
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