Credit: Alan SilfenLionel Richie is supporting a 27-minute documentary short called The Tuskegee Airmen: Sacrifice and Triumph, about the first African-American fighter pilots.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the singer held a private screening in his Beverly Hills house with 20 guests, including an original Tuskegee Airman, earlier this month. “I made a few phone calls, even though it was very last-minute,” says Richie about his screening of the flick, which he believes deserves the attention of Oscar voters.
After supporting the 2012 feature Red Tails, Richie feels that the film’s history should be taught in schools around the country. “You can’t settle. There’s a young generation coming along that I want to know that the fiber of America has black people in it,” he says. “We made major contributions in this country.”
When asked how he would respond if the film did win an Oscar, Richie says with a laugh, “I’m rushing the stage! What are you talking about? Are you kidding me?”
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