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April Reign: The Woman Hollywood Needs (But Doesn’t Deserve)
Meet the woman trying to save Hollywood — and your dry skin. All in a day’s work!
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
Disruptor. Like guru or ninja or thought leader, it’s a term that’s lost what little meaning it started with. Everyone wants to be a leader and a game-changer, but a buzzword does not make it so. However, a few — a very few — have earned the title. And among them is April Reign, creator of 2015’s #OscarsSoWhite campaign.
In one perfect three-word phrase, the lawyer-turned-advocate took Hollywood to task for its woeful lack of diversity—sparking a conversation that has resonated well past the movie screen (see also #DemsSoWhite).
Yet, Oscar weekend is Reign’s Super Bowl, and finds her offering opinions and suggestions on everything from nominees and categories to making the Academy more diverse. (The Oscars, like so many other awards shows, are still #SoWhite.) So asking her for an interview on the Friday of that weekend, as LEVEL did, has the same odds of success as a realistic wig in a Tyler Perry movie. Her response? “What time?”
We expected 20 minutes. We got double that. She made speaking to the LEVEL man a priority. Now get into this conversation about diversity in Hollywood — and have a glass of water nearby. Seriously.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
LEVEL: The Oscars felt like they took a big step back this year as far as diversity goes. Did that frustrate you?
April Reign: I was disappointed, but not surprised. The Academy is still 84% white and 68% male. The voting membership is not required to view the films before they vote. So it’s just a popularity contest amongst mostly older White men.
Have you had an opportunity to speak with anyone at The Academy?
The Academy has never reached out to me.
