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Paramount Offering Free ‘Selma’ Rentals After David Oyelowo Says Oscar Voters Snubbed Film

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Paramount Pictures has announced that it is offering free digital rentals of Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” for the rest of the month.

The news comes less than 24 hours after star David Oyelowo said that Oscar voters told the studio that they would not support the film after the cast wore T-shirts that said “I Can’t Breathe” to the Los Angeles premiere in protest of the killing of Eric Garner.

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“Members of the Academy called in to the studio and our producers saying, ‘How dare they do that? Why are they stirring s–t?’ and ‘We are not going to vote for that film, because we do not think it is their place to be doing that,’” Oyelowo said in an interview with Screen Daily’s Screen Talk.

DuVernay retweeted the story with the comment, “True story.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences replied to DuVernay. “Ava & David, we hear you. Unacceptable,” the organization said in a tweet. “We’re committed to progress.”

Paramount said in a statement Friday morning, “Fifty-five years after the historic marches from Selma, as we witness the expression of decades of collective pain, we should reflect on Dr. King’s words: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We hope this small gesture will encourage people throughout the country to examine our nation’s history and reflect on the ways that racial injustice has infected our society. The key message of Selma is the importance of equality, dignity and justice for all people. Clearly, that message is as vital today as it was in 1965.”

Read Paramount’s complete statement below:

Ava DuVernay’s powerful drama Selma tells the incredible story of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the epic march from Selma to Montgomery to secure equal voting rights in an event that forever altered history.

Beginning today, Paramount is making Selma available for free rental on digital platforms through the end of the month.

55 years after the historic marches from Selma, as we witness the expression of decades of collective pain, we should reflect on Dr. King’s words: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

We hope this small gesture will encourage people throughout the country to examine our nation’s history and reflect on the ways that racial injustice has infected our society. The key message of Selma is the importance of equality, dignity and justice for all people. Clearly, that message is as vital today as it was in 1965.

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