Al Sharpton: 'This Will Be the Last Night of an All-White Oscars'

"You are out of time," Sharpton said, addressing the Academy. "...This will be the last night of an all-white Oscars."

Speaking to demonstrators gathered in a strip mall parking lot at Sunset and Highland, Sharpton promised a longer protest, along with pressure on advertisers, if the situation doesn't change next year.

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As he marched, Sharpton told Variety that the changes the Academy has announced to diversify its membership "is a step in the right direction. The problem is, they didn't announce anything until we came out against the second year nominations. They told us last year they would make a move and change things, and they didn't. Then when we denounced this year's, they called an emergency meeting. It took them a year to call an emergency meeting."

Sharpton also noted that he had a meeting with Amy Pascal, then a Sony executive, over an email she wrote that was disclosed during the hack and was viewed as racially insensitive.

He told Variety, "She promised we were going to call on our colleagues to sit down and escalate how to put blacks and Latinos in decision-making, and none of that happened. So are they continuing to think they can delay on this?"

Sharpton's National Action Network also staged demonstrations in New York, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta and Cleveland.

He said that this year they didn't try to disrupt Oscar events, or "build up thousands or lay in front of cars, stop people from coming. This is a notice, but it will escalate. They cannot keep acting as if this was 1950 America."

Sharpton marched in a circle around the parking lot with demonstrators, as funk music played and marchers chanted, "diversify the Academy."

At one point Sharpton held an Oscar painted white, saying that when statuettes are handed out this year, that is the color they should be.

Mollie Bell, a resident of Compton who works for the postal service, said that she is an avid moviegoer but came to the event because she wanted Hollywood to know "we are more than just a ticket buyer."

As limousines and SUVs drove by to a security checkpoint, the demonstrators marched peacefully in a circle for about an hour, chanting "no justice, no peace" at points.

About 150 to 175 people, including a heavy contingent of media, gathered at the intersection.