Jada Pinkett Smith has responded to Janet Hubert after she publicly criticized the actress for boycotting the Oscars due to the lack of diversity in the nominations. Hubert, best known for playing the original Aunt Viv on "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," slammed Smith over the #OscarsSoWhite controversy on Monday.
"I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living, and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win," Hubert said in a video at the time, as HNGN previously reported.
The "Gotham" star addressed the comments in a video obtained by Entertainment Tonight. "Considering that Alabama had its highest recruitment for the KKK for Martin Luther King's birthday, I hope that we as African-Americans can find a way to get along and step together," said Smith.
"This whole Oscar controversy isn't really about the Oscars," Smith added. "Really, in my plea to ask all communities and people of color to take back our power is so that we can use it in all sectors of our community, and right now, specifically with African-American people, we have some very serious issues that I think we as a people have to move together on. I'm hoping we can find ways to step together in this instead of finding ways to fight each other. I got love for everybody."
Jada Pinkett Smith's husband, Will Smith, announced on Thursday that he would be joining his wife in boycotting the Academy Awards.
"I'm a real freedom fighter," Hubert said in an interview, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not a pretend freedom fighter. I stand up for other actresses, other people. The Smiths just irked me because they are such pretenders, and everything is a photo op. It's just self-contrived because her hubby didn't get a nomination."
