 Immediate reaction within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to president Cheryl Boone Isaacs’ statement promising “dramatic steps” to increase diversity ranged from skepticism that AMPAS could make real changes to enthusiasm over the idea of diversity as a true Oscars priority. Last year, the #oscarssowhite hashtag took off after David Oyelowo was snubbed for his turn as Martin Luther King Jr. in "Selma," and the film's director, Ava DuVernay, also failed to score a nomination. She issued her statement after a public outcry over the failure of Academy voters to nominate any non-white acting nominees for the second consecutive year. Also Read: Oscar Nominations Renew #OscarsSoWhite Backlash 
 
 Among the African-American performers who were overlooked in Oscars nominations: Michael B. Jordan for “Creed,” Idris Elba for “Beasts of No Nation,” Will Smith for “Concussion” and the cast of “Straight Outta Compton,” which was nominated for screenplay by the Writers Branch (typically the most adventurous AMPAS branch) but left out of the Best Picture and acting races. She added that the academy would be taking "dramatic steps" to alter the makeup of its membership and to accelerate diversity efforts.
– Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs isn't in a position to boycott the Oscars—but she wants Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee to know that she is "heartbroken and frustrated" by this year's lack of diversity and there are big changes ahead. "This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes," she said in a statement Monday night, per the Hollywood Reporter. "The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership," she added, promising a "review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond." Smith and Lee announced their boycott after the Academy released an all-white acting nominee list for the second year in a row. Boone Isaacs noted that the Academy worked hard to stay relevant by recruiting younger members in the '60s and '70s, and the goal now is "inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation." Insiders tell the Wrap that Academy governors and board members received an email Monday asking them to make a push for more diversity in each branch of the organization. In its most recent report on the issue, UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African-American Studies found that senior management at movie studios is 92% white and 83% male, reports the Los Angeles Times. If black stars stay away from the Oscars, "the image of Hollywood that the academy presents is at stake," researcher Ana-Christina Ramon tells the paper. (The Oscars were recently defended by one perhaps surprising person.)