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Kirstie Alley delivered a fiery rebuke of efforts to boost diversity within the Oscars race, blasting a series of reforms as âdictatorialâ and âanti-artist.â
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Oscars, on Tuesday announced new standards to improve the inclusion of underrepresented groups, including women, people of colour, LGBTQ folks and disabled people. The standards will apply to films competing for Best Picture starting in 2024.
In order to be eligible, a film must meet at least two out of four standards involving representation on-screen, behind the scenes, among industry access opportunities via the filmâs studio/distributor, and in publicity or distribution efforts.
The announcement has drawn a mixed response so far. Few people, however, were quite as incensed as Alley. One of Hollywoodâs most outspoken conservatives, the actor slammed the standards as a âdisgrace to artists everywhereâ on Twitter.
âCan you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his fucking paintings,â the star of âCheersâ and âLook Whoâs Talkingâ wrote on Tuesday, according to Entertainment Tonight. âYou people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought .. OSCAR ORWELL.â
By Wednesday, Alley had deleted the tweet, claiming it was a âpoor analogyâ and âmisrepresented my viewpoint.â She clarified her criticism of the new Best Picture standards, instead likening them to âMANDATED ARBITRARY percentages relating to hiring human beings in any business.â
Calling the quotas âimpossible to police,â she added, âDiversity and inclusion should be taught, taught so well and so naturally and genuinely that it becomes second nature to our children.â
The comments received a brisk response from many of Alleyâs industry peers, including director Ava DuVernay, who replied with a GIF of actor Denzel Washington shutting a door in a manâs face.
Alley is no stranger to stirring controversy on social media.
The actor applauded President Donald Trumpâs response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, thanking him on Twitter for âtaking chargeâ and âleading in a manner needed & wanted for this countryâ amid the ongoing crisis.
And in 2016, she scoffed at Mattel after the toy company unveiled a series of new Barbie dolls with a variety of skin tones and body types, saying she wished it were 1965 again.