#OscarsSoWhite Creator April Reign Invited to Academy Awards for First Time

Four years after April Reign sparked the #OscarsSoWhite movement with a single tweet, the activist and lawyer has been invited to attend the Academy Awards to see her work in action. Reign told The Hollywood Reporter that she will be attending this year’s Oscars with “immense pride,” and she said that she’s particularly excited to celebrate the success of films like Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and Black Panther. Reign plans on bringing her 19-year-old son, as she believes the #OscarsSoWhite movement should enable “children of any age” to “see themselves reflected on screen.”

“After creating the hashtag and working for almost five years to turn it into a movement that not only changed the Academy but made its way into so many other industries, I feel immense pride and a sense of coming full circle, back to the where it all began,” Reign told THR. “The work continues, but I am thrilled to be able to celebrate the incremental progress that has been made, even if only for a night.”

The #OscarsSoWhite movement emerged as a reaction to the 2015 Oscars nominees, which featured exclusively white actors across the acting categories, and in the years since, it has galvanized Hollywood into action. In the last few years, the Academy has made it a point to add more women and people of color to its ranks; according to THR, the Academy has almost tripled its invitees since 2015 (it invited 322 new members in 2015 and 928 in 2018), many of whom belong to minority groups. With nominees including Alfonso Cuaron, Spike Lee, Yalitzia Aparicio, and more, THR’s awards expert Scott Feinberg believes this year’s nominees to be the most diverse group in Oscars history.

Reign is most excited for BlacKkKlansman and Black Panther, two films that she believes highlight the importance of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Said the activist, “Seeing Spike nominated is a very public validation of that work. Nevertheless, the daily work of [#OscarsSoWhite] is for all marginalized people, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, age, or disability, to have opportunities they didn’t before.” Of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, she added, “Black Panther was such a game-changing film in so many ways. Not only did it shift the culture, it put to rest tropes on which Hollywood has relied for far too long.”

Amid all this excitement, the #OscarsSoWhite creator has a very special plus-one for her first-ever Oscars. “I’m bringing my son,” Reign said, adding that he’s 19 years old. “Because the whole point of #OscarsSoWhite is that children of any age should be able to see themselves reflected on screen.”

You can read Reign’s entire interview with The Hollywood Reporter here.

Where to stream Black Panther