Another powerful voice has weighed in on the ongoing controversy surrounding Oscar hopeful The Birth of a Nation: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In a TMZ video, the Academy leader says that audiences should see the film, despite the unfolding drama that has swirled around director/star Nate Parker.

“That’s his personal issue,” Isaacs said. “Then there’s the issue of the movie . . . the important thing is for people to see it and enjoy the film.”

The “personal issue” in question is the recent revelation that a woman who accused Parker and his friend Jean McGianni Celestin (who has a writing credit on Nation) of rape had committed suicide in 2012. Parker, who was acquitted of the charges in 2001, wrote a sorrow-filled Facebook post in response.

“While I maintain my innocence that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law,” he said. “There is morality; no one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation.”

The Birth of a Nation was previously being heralded as a major Oscar contender, though its chances aren’t so certain anymore. One thing that is certain is Isaacs’s support: she says “people need to see this movie,” though she has not yet seen it herself.

“I know just by the conversation that has gone on since Sundance that it’s clearly a movie that filmgoers should go and see,” Isaacs added.

Also supporting Parker is Al Sharpton, who criticized the media for bringing the past legal drama up now, when Parker’s on the cusp of a career breakthrough, in an interview with the Root: “The way you kill the message is you try to smear the messenger,” he said.

Harry Belafonte echoed the sentiment in an interview with the Associated Press. “It’s interesting because it’s coming out the same time the film’s coming out," he said. "Of all the stories you can tell, why are you telling this story?"

Harvey Weinstein also chimed in, calling Parker a "wonderful man" and "a very good person" in a CNN interview.

One person we might not hear from soon is Parker himself. Though The Birth of a Nation will screen at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival, the film will not have a press conference.