Movies

Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee now have a powerful ally in Quincy Jones, who's flexing his influence with the Academy Awards to address its lack of black nominees.

The legendary producer is the first African American on the Academy's board of governors and on Wednesday he told reporters, "We've got to find a solution. It's been going on for too long."

Quincy said he planned to ask for 5 minutes in front of the board to discuss the hottest topic in Hollywood, and if they don't give him the time ... he says he'll refuse to present at the Oscars.

He's supposed to present an award with Common and Pharrell Williams.

If Usher can act as well as he throws a punch, he's gonna kill as boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard in the upcoming Roberto Duran biopic "Hands of Stone."

Usher's actually been training for 2 years at Decatur Boxing Club outside Atlanta. The club's owner Xavier Biggs tells us his student put in two-a-days -- 2 hours a day, 6 days a week and even met with Sugar Ray to prepare for the role in the film.

Filming has wrapped, but Usher hasn't stopped climbing into the ring. Biggs -- whose brother won Olympic gold -- says the singer's gotten so good he can hang with the pros.

Spike Lee says Hollywood needs to take its cue from the NFL -- forcing studios to institute a "Rooney Rule" ... requiring studios to greenlight a certain number of movies featuring minorities.

Lee was on 'GMA' Wednesday morning when he said the problem with the Oscars is deeper than who gets nominated -- it's the fact black movies and black actors aren't getting the opportunities in the Hollywood boardrooms.

That's why Lee wants a "Rooney Rule" -- an NFL policy that requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and minority jobs.

Lee feels that someone needs to force Hollywood to hit a mandatory quota when it comes to making minority films.

Watch the clip ... seems Michael Strahan is down to play the role of enforcer.

Spike Lee has corrected the media for reporting he was calling for an Oscar boycott.

Spike appeared on 'GMA' and made it clear ... blasting the Academy for shutting out black actors and films and vowing not to attend the ceremony is NOT the same as calling for a boycott.

Lee said he and his wife would be at the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden the night of the Oscars, and everyone else can either attend or not ... not his business.

There were lots of reports Jada Pinkett Smith also called for a boycott, which she did not. She said it's time for African Americans to stop begging the Academy for acceptance and do their own thing in their own community.

As for Chris Rock, Spike's making no judgment on whether he should still host.

ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

Tyrese is telling Chris Rock to bail out on his Oscars hosting gig because it's a no-win situation for the comedian.

Tyrese put the pressure on Chris, saying ... "There is no joke you can crack to ever change the way we all feel." 50 Cent similarly encouraged him to quit.

Chris is in a tough spot -- enough people, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee and Snoop Dogg ... have blasted the Academy's lack of diversity. So, it's obvious he'll have to address the matter during the Oscars broadcast.

But Tyrese's point -- this is one situation where Rock's comedic skills won't be appropriate. So far, Rock's standing firm.

Snoop Dogg went off on the Oscars ... not just calling for a boycott, but saying it's a personal affront to all African Americans.

We didn't censor the video because it would have ruined the impact.

Point made.

Will Smith's old 'Fresh Prince' co-star is on the attack ... saying he and Jada Pinkett Smith are NOT the Obamas, and black Hollywood isn't gonna sing "we shall overcome" with them.

Janet Hubert, the original Aunt Viv, blasted Jada's anti-Oscars stance with a rambling video post that started ... "First of all, Miss Thang, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?"

Hubert goes on to accuse the Smiths of being sore losers, and says there are way more important things going on in the world -- "Our boys are being shot left and right, people are hungry, people are trying to pay bills and you talking about some motherf***ing actors and Oscars."

The President of the Motion Picture Academy has issued what feels like a frantic response to calls of boycott for the lily white 2016 Oscar nominations.

Prez Cheryl Boone Isaacs just announced her org will take "dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership." She says the Academy will conduct a review of its membership "in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our class of 2016 and beyond."

It appears the President -- the first African American ever elected to the position -- is reacting in part to calls for a boycott from Spike Lee and others. Jada Pinkett Smith went even further, saying the Academy has become irrelevant to African Americans and they should no longer beg for representation -- they should get validation from their own community and that should be enough.

Boone Isaacs says she is "heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion," adding, "In 2016 the mandate is inclusion in all ... facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation."

She made it clear ... members of the Academy and beyond have expressed their frustration to her.

DJ Paul's either not feeling the Oscar snub much of Hollywood is feeling or he just has a funny way of showing it.

The Three 6 Mafia rapper helped son Nautica ring in his 20th birthday -- which also happened to be Paul's big day -- in Vegas over the weekend. Judging from the 12:1 ratio on the dance floor ... his son had a great time.

We're told the father-son bash began with a screening of 'Star Wars' before they hit the club at D Casino for an EDM show. He got Nautica a 'Star Wars' cake and an Oscar themed cake for himself.

It's hard out there for a pimp ... but not for DJ Paul and his son.

Jada Pinkett Smith did something remarkable and powerful Sunday, posting words that could have been delivered by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver 50 years ago.

Jada -- whose husband, Will Smith, was overlooked by the Academy for his performance in "Concussion" -- says in a super powerful way, "Maybe it's time we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called mainstream."

Jada suggested, "We can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgement or respect of any group."

She made it clear ... she won't be attending the Oscars.

You gotta listen to her ... back in the day Eldridge was viewed by the "mainstream" as radical and dangerous. Jada revives the sentiment, and it doesn't sound radical or dangerous at all.

Spike Lee is blasting the Oscars for its lack of "flava" and says he won't attend the "lilly white" ceremony because MLK Jr. would want it that way.

In his scathing message to the Motion Picture Academy, Spike said ... "40 white actors in 2 years and no flava at all. We can't act?! WTF!!"

Spike apologized to his friends involved in the Oscars production this year -- Chris Rock, Reggie Hudlin, and Pres. Cheryl Boone Isaacs -- but said he simply "cannot support it."

He admitted he was purposely unloading on MLK day because as Dr. King said, "There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but he must take it because conscience tells him it's right."

Spike added, the Academy Awards aren't even the real issue. He says Hollywood will remain vanilla until minorities become "the gate keepers" who really decide which movies get made, and ... "The truth is we ain't in those rooms."

Powerful message ... not unlike a crucial scene from Spike's best movie.

Rapper K Camp is pissed the actors and most of the crew for "Straight Outta Compton" got dissed by the Oscars, but thinks Dr. Dre and Ice Cube's snub will help change the game.

K vented to us in a video statement ... saying black filmmakers have to work harder to make it in white Hollywood, yet still end up getting the shaft more often than not.

What's interesting is his positive spin on the future of diversity in the movie industry.

Yes, K Camp's a little biased -- he calls 'Compton' one of "the best f***in' movies" he's ever seen -- but that doesn't negate his theory.

#Silverlining

So much for Ronda Rousey's movie career being D.O.A. -- the UFC superstar just locked up ANOTHER gig ... in a movie based on a catchphrase she created, "Do Nothing Bitches."

Rousey will star alongside Tina Fey -- playing a hard-ass instructor at a camp for pampered rich wives ... according to Deadline.

Seems like the plot will be something along the lines of ... "Do Nothing Bitches Become Do Something Bitches."

Rousey popularized the phrase last year -- saying a "Do Nothing Bitch" is a woman who just tries to be pretty in the hopes some rich guy will take care of her. She later used the phrase on shirts and Beyonce incorporated the quote in her concerts.

Jonah Hill had someone watching over him during a stroll in New York City.

Tyrese expressed his Oscar disappointment in song ... and the scene could have been ripped from a history book describing the civil rights struggle in the '60s.

Tyrese was leaving Katsuya in Hollywood Thursday when our photog asked about the "Straight Outta Compton" snub ... and he waxed poetic.

Fans of Ice Cube and N.W.A. are fired up about the Oscars dissing "Straight Outta Compton" -- and now we know what Cube himself thinks about it.

We just got him in NYC -- a couple hours after his movie was left off the Best Picture nominees list -- and asked, "Are you disappointed?"

So, did he give us a PC Cube response -- or an old school N.W.A.-era Cube rant? We were definitely pulling for one over the other.

Check it out ...