.Call it an old boys club. Confirming something that's been commented and joked about for years, The Los Angeles Times found that of the 5,765 Oscar voters 94 percent are male, 77 percent are white and 86 percent are 50 and older. "Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%," wrote The Times' John Horn, Nicole Sperling, and Doug Smith, noting that Oscar voters are less diverse than the moviegoing public. "Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership."
In explaining its lack of diversity, the Academy is blaming the industry that feeds its ranks. "We absolutely recognize that we need to do a better job," writer-director Phil Alden Robinson, a longtime Academy governor told The Los Angeles Times. "We start off with one hand tied behind our back. ... If the industry as a whole is not doing a great job in opening up its ranks, it's very hard for us to diversify our membership."