NAACP Flap Taints Annual Image Awards : Awards: A local chapter of the group, involved in a conflict with the national organization, vows to seek an injunction against the event.

By DAVID J. FOX

Oct. 16, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A dispute over who controls the annual NAACP Image Awards cast a shadow over the nominations for achievement in film, TV and pop music that were announced Tuesday by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

The dispute pits the NAACP leadership against the local NAACP Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter. Members of the local on Tuesday vowed to take their dispute to court to seek an injunction stopping the Jan. 11 awards ceremony, which the local chapter has conducted for 23 years.

The dispute has been brewing for the last year, as issues about a lack of opportunities for African-Americans in the Hollywood entertainment industry have drawn more attention from the national organization.

In October, 1989, the national NAACP put the local branch into trusteeship, saying that disputes over the awards had put the chapter into “paralysis.”

Outside the Beverly Hills Hotel, where the NAACP conducted the Image Awards nominations press conference, local chapter members carried signs protesting the national chapter’s actions. Local president Sandra Evers-Manly said her membership “is angry because we started and nurtured these awards. They have never sent us one reason why they took us over.”

Evers-Manly said the branch is calling on industry professionals and others to not support the awards until national officials and the chapter resolve differences.

At the press conference, NAACP Board Chairman William F. Gibson denied that the national has stepped in to take over the awards. “The NAACP has always been involved in some form or fashion,” Gibson said in response to a question. He said the national organization had signed a contract with NBC to air the show in January near the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The ceremonies will be at the Wiltern Theater.

Gibson said talks between both groups are set for this weekend.

“The Image Awards has never been a money-maker for the NAACP,” Gibson said, “and some years, it has cost us.”

But he said the original reason for the awards remains. After years of being “ignored” by the Oscars and Emmys, and not receiving “our fair share” of Grammys, the Image Awards were begun in 1967. “Although we have made inroads, we are still struggling to make needed changes at all levels in Hollywood: in decision making, in the technical crafts, in the creative arts.”

The nominations announced Tuesday were:

* Motion Picture: “Boyz N the Hood,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Jungle Fever,” “New Jack City,” “To Sleep With Anger.”

* Actress, Motion Picture: Mary Alice, “To Sleep With Anger”; Ruby Dee, “Jungle Fever”; Tyra Ferrell, “Boyz N the Hood”; Robin Givens, “A Rage in Harlem”; Whoopi Goldberg, “The Long Walk Home”; Lonette McKee, “Jungle Fever.”

* Actor, Motion Picture: Ice Cube, “Boyz N the Hood”; Larry Fishburne, “Boyz N the Hood”; Danny Glover, “To Sleep With Anger”; Cuba Gooding Jr., “Boyz N the Hood”; Wesley Snipes, “New Jack City.”

* TV Comedy Series: “A Different World,” “The Cosby Show,” “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Family Matters,” “In Living Color.”

* Actor, Comedy Series: Bill Cosby, “The Cosby Show”; Kadeem Hardison, “A Different World”; Will Smith, “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”; Damon Wayans, “In Living Color”; Jaleel White, “Family Matters.”

* Actress, Comedy Series: Jasmine Guy, “A Different World”; Janet Hubert-Whitten, “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”; Phylicia Rashad, “The Cosby Show”; Raven Symone, “The Cosby Show”; Cree Summer “A Different World.”

* Drama Series, TV Movie, or Mini-Series: “Equal Justice,” Gabriel’s Fire,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Separate but Equal.”

* Actor, Drama Series, TV Movie, or Mini-Series: James Earl Jones, “Gabriel’s Fire”; Joe Morton, “Equal Justice”; Sidney Poitier, “Separate but Equal”: Howard Rollins, “In the Heat of the Night”; Blair Underwood, “L.A. Law.”

* Actress, Drama Series, TV Movie, or Mini-Series: Ruby Dee, “Decoration Day”; Anne-Marie Johnson, “In the Heat of the Night”; Madge Sinclair, “Gabriel’s Fire”; Cicely Tyson, “Heat Wave”; Lynn Whitfield, “The Josephine Baker Story.”

* Variety Series or Special: “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “Whitney Houston Salute to the Troops,” “In Living Color,” “Motown 30,” “Showtime at the Apollo.”

* News Talk, or Information Series/Special: “Tony Brown’s Journal,” “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “The Jesse Jackson Show,” “Our Voice,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

* New Artist: Boyz II Men, “Motownphilly”; C+C Music Factory, “Gonna Make You Sweat”; Lalah Hathaway, “Heaven Knows”; Lisa Fischer, “How Can I Ease the Pain”; Keith Washington, “Kissing You.”

* Gospel Artist: Sounds of Blackness, “Evolution of Gospel”; Tramaine Hawkins, “Live”; Jessye Norman/Kathleen Battle, “Spirituals in Concert”; Take 6, “So Much to Say”; BeBe & CeCe Winans, “Addictive Love.”

* Rap Artist: D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, “Summertime”; Heavy D & the Boyz, “Now That We Found Love”; Ice-T, “Hustler”; LL Cool J, “Mama Said Knock You Out”; Queen Latifah, “Nature of a Sista’.”

* Jazz Artist: Natalie Cole, “Unforgettable”; Shirley Horn, “You Won’t Forget Me”; Earl Klugh “Midnight in San Juan”; Wynton Marsalis, “Standard Time/Vol. 3”; Dianne Reeves, “I Remember.”

* Female Artist: Oleta Adams, “Get Here”; Anita Baker, “Fairy Tale”; Natalie Cole, “Unforgettable”; Whitney Houston, “I’m Your Baby Tonight”; Gladys Knight, “Men.”

* Male Artist: Peabo Bryson, “Can You Stop the Rain”; Ralph Tresvant, “Sensitivity”; Luther Vandross, “Power of Love”; Keith Washington, “Kissing You”; Stevie Wonder, “Gotta Have You.”

* Vocal Group: Boyz II Men, “Motownphilly”; Color Me Badd, “I Wanna Sex You Up”; En Vogue, “Don’t Go”; LeVert, “Baby I’m Ready”; O’Jays, “Emotionally Yours.”

* Album: “Cooleyhighharmony” Boyz II Men; “Power of Love” Luther Vandross; sound track from “Jungle Fever”; sound track from “New Jack City”; “Unforgettable” Natalie Cole.

* Music Video: “Men” Gladys Knight; “Motownphilly” Boyz II Men; “Power of Love” Luther Vandross; “Summertime” D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince; “Unforgettable” Natalie Cole.