He just wants to talk about the Oscar Problem: the fact that not a single non-white actor has been nominated at this year’s Academy Awards, for the second year running. McQueen doesn’t have a film to promote, he can’t yet talk about his forthcoming projects for HBO or the BBC. “Could you imagine now if MTV only showed music videos by a majority of white people, then after 11 o’clock it showed a majority of black people? Could you imagine that happening now? It’s the same situation happening in the movies.”
“This is exactly like MTV was in the 1980s,” says Steve McQueen.
