Steve Hopkins, Daily Mail, January 16, 2015

Reverend Al Sharpton has said the Oscar nominations are ‘appallingly insulting’ and compared Hollywood to the Rocky Mountains, saying the higher you get ‘the whiter it gets’.

Rev Sharpton has called for an emergency Hollywood meeting to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards, after no black actors or actresses received nominations.

He was due to meet allies and colleagues to discuss plans for before or during the February 22 ceremony.

He said David Oyelowo, whose performance as the late Reverend Martin Luther King, was launded, should have been nominated. So to should the movie’s director, Ava DuVernay.

The movie, called Selma, has been nominated in the Best Picture category.

Foxnews quoted the Reverend as saying: ‘In the time of Staten Island and Ferguson, to have one of the most shutout Oscar nights in recent memory is something that is incongruous.’

In a statement quoted by the Business Insider, Reverend Sharpton compared the movie industry to the Rocky Mountains.

He said: ‘The higher you get, the whiter it gets.’

Reverend Sharpton said: ‘It’s ironic that they nominated a story about the racial shut out around voting while there is a racial shut out around the Oscar nominations.

‘With all of the talent in Selma and other black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel tied for the most Oscar nominations Thursday morning with nine nods each, including best picture.

They were joined in best-picture nominations by Boyhood, Whiplash, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, American Sniper and Selma.

The Imitation Game trailed close behind with eight nominations.

Clint Eastwood’s Navy SEAL drama American Sniper did especially well, landing six nods including best actor for Bradley Cooper.

Angelina Jolie’s WWII epic Unbroken was not recognized, and other snubs included Jennifer Aniston for Cake, Amy Adams for Big Eyes and the animated film The Lego Movie.

Also with six nominations was Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age epic Boyhood, which remains the best-picture favorite. On Sunday, it won best drama at the Golden Globes.

But Wes Anderson’s old Europe caper The Grand Budapest Hotel, which also won best comedy or musical at the Globes, has emerged as the most unexpected awards heavyweight.

Marion Cotillard for the French-language Two Days, One Night was the surprise nominee for best actress. She was joined by Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and Reese Witherspoon (Wild).

The nominees for best supporting actor are: Robert Duvall, The Judge; Edward Norton, Birdman; Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher; Ethan Hawke, Boyhood; and J.K. Simmons, Whiplash.

The nominees for best supporting actress are: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood; Laura Dern, Wild; Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game; Emma Stone, Birdman; and Meryl Streep, Into the Woods.

This year’s modestly sized but much-beloved favorites – Boyhood, Birdman – have been largely locked in place throughout much of the ever-expanding industrial complex of Hollywood’s lengthy awards season, where statuette-hunting campaigns span months and are feverishly chewed over by Oscar prognosticators.

As studios have focused more and more on easily marketed blockbusters, Oscar season increasingly exists apart from the regular business of the movies, in its own highfalutin, red-carpeted realm.

Ratings are on the rise. Last year’s Oscars, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, drew 43 million viewers, making it the most-watched entertainment telecast in a decade. 12 Years a Slave took best picture.

This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Shortly after the announcement, the host shared a video on his Twitter page.

He told his 12.9 million followers: ‘The Oscar nominations just came out this morning and that can only mean one thing–I just lost 20 bucks.’

Neil then turned to his four-year-old daughter Harper and handed her the cash, claiming he had bet on who would be up for Best Credit Design Of A Foreign Language Film–a made up category.