[user104658]

It's more complicated than that, really. There is quite a bit of fairly well documented racism in Hollywood; but that's not to say that brilliant performances are overlooked for Oscars when they happen.

The problem is... stripped right back to the bare bones... for various cultural reasons, white people make up the biggest chunk of box office numbers. Therefore, more movies are made with higher budgets featuring a certain demographic of people, to engage a certain demographic in the audience.

Of course, this is circular: White people are more interested in Cinema because Cinema is mostly white... other racial groups are less likely to be as interested because they aren't represented... and then we go back to the reverse; they aren't represented because they aren't as interested. Turn turn turn turn turn.

Of course if you take it right back to the beginning of "the movies", it all began because the Silver Screen was basically all-white. But there's not really much you can do about history... it is what it is.

So, this statement:

“The Academy Awards is not where the ‘real’ battle is,” wrote Lee. “It’s in the executive office of the Hollywood studios and TV and cable networks. This is where the gate keepers decide what gets made and what gets jettisoned to ‘turnaround’ or scrap heap. This is what’s important. The gate keepers. Those with ‘the green light’ vote.”

Is very true. But it's NOT because those execs and "gatekeepers" are racist. They don't decide to scrap shows or to not put money into making any film or show because they're "just racist". They scrap shows that aren't getting viewers and therefore aren't making money. It's that simple. If there's a show with a mainly black cast that's making a fortune then the execs are going to lap it up. If a show (any show) is failing then they'll pull the plug. ALL they care about is numbers and $$$.