Janet Hubert, who played Will Smith’s Aunt Viv in the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, has criticised his wife Jada Pinkett Smith for her decision to boycott this year’s Oscars over its lack of diversity.

In a forthright YouTube video, the actress accused Jada, whose husband Will was “snubbed” by the awards, of boycotting the ceremony “just because you didn’t get a nomination, just because you didn’t win” and told them they were “part of the system that is unfair to other actors”.

Janet Hubert and Will SmithJanet played Aunt Viv alongside Will Smith in The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air (Moviestore/REX)

 

Hubert’s four-minute video, posted on Monday which was Martin Luther King Day in the US, was a response to Jada’s Facebook video in which she confirmed she would not be attending the Academy Awards and would not be watching at home.

Jada said: “Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power, and we are a dignified people and we are powerful. Let’s let the academy do them, with all grace and love. And let’s do us differently.”

Janet responded: “First of all, Miss Thing. Does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak? And the second thing is, girlfriend, there is a lot of s*** going on in the world that you all don’t seem to recognise.

We must stand in our power! – Jada Pinkett Smith | Facebook

“People are dying, our boys are being shot left and right. People are hungry, people are starving, people are trying to pay bills, and you’re talking about some m************ actors and Oscars. And it just ain’t that deep.”

She continued by saying that asking black actors to also boycott would “jeopardise their careers and standing in a town that you know damn well you don’t do that”.

She said: “I find it ironic that someone who has made their living and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you talk about boycotting, just because you didn’t get a nomination, just because you didn’t win. That is not the way life works, baby. It’s very suspect to me.”

Janet HubertJanet in her YouTube video (Janet Hubert/YouTube)

 

Turning her attention to Will, she recalled a time 25 years ago when the actors on Fresh Prince asked him to use his star power to help leverage a raise and were told: “My deal is my deal and your deal is your deal.”

She denied that Will had been snubbed by the Academy for his role in Concussion, saying “maybe you didn’t deserve a nomination”.

“(Idris Elba) is an incredible actor. You are not. Maybe you didn’t deserve a nomination. Frankly I didn’t think you deserved a Golden Globe nomination with that accent but you got one,” she said.

She sassily stated: “You ain’t Barack and Michelle Obama and y’all need to get over yourselves,” and concluded that Will and Jada were in fact part of the problem with their production company Overbrook Entertainment.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett SmithJada and Will at the Golden Globes (Jordan Strauss/Invision/PA)

 

“You have a huge production company and you only produce for your friends, your family and yourselves. So you are a part of Hollywood, you are a part of the system that is unfair to other actors so get real.”

Janet and Will are known to have a feud dating from their time on the show when she was replaced by another actress in the role.

They are the latest black stars to respond to the controversy over the lack of actors of any ethnic minority in the major four categories at the Oscars.

Spike Lee posted a note on Instagram where he too said he would boycott the “lily white” Oscars.

“40 white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can’t act?!” he wrote.

The Academy’s president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said she was “heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion”.

“It’s time for a big change,” she said.

Chris Rock, who’ll be hosting the awards on February 28, addressed the criticism with a joke that the show was the “White BET awards”, referring to the Black Entertainment Television awards.