So much has been said about the Academy Award’s lack of diversity in its roster of nominations. It wasn’t only this year, of course, but things really came to a head when, once again, there wasn’t a single person of color nominated for the four major acting awards. 

Many have attributed this to the percentage of Academy voters being reportedly 94% white and 76% male, therefore practically ensuring a certain preference.

Among those in the forefront of raising their voices against the apparent lack of diversity is Hollywood super couple, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Jada, for her part, posted a video on her Facebook page calling out the Academy and the film industry at large. 

She and her husband will also be boycotting this year’s ceremony as a form of protest. But it isn’t all about anger anymore.

In a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Will Smith has chosen to speak out about this controversy in a more positive way.

“The thing for me is the spirit of it has to maintain,” Smith said. “The media sort of creates the us and them, and, for me, there is no us and them, it’s we,” he explains.

“I am a member of the Academy, so I felt very seriously that there’s a sort of a kind of regression, that, in America in general, a regression towards separatism and racial and religious exclusion…” he went on. “And so, for me, it’s about putting my hand up and reminding my community, the Hollywood community, that we have to lead. That diversity is America’s superpower. That’s what makes our country great.”

Smith also shared tidbits of wisdom from his grandmother when host Graham Norton said that he hopes that something good comes out of it: “As my grandmother said, that’s the only thing that can come out of it. If you lead with love and light, only good can come out of it,” Smith said.