Best actress nominee says Oscar diversity uproar is ‘racist to whites’
LOS ANGELES — In stark contrast to fellow Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo's comments yesterday, Charlotte Rampling thinks that the Oscar diversity outcry is "racist to whites."
The screen icon, who's up for best actress for her role in the marital drama "45 Years," said during an interview on Friday morning with French radio network Europe 1 that the campaign to boycott the Feb. 28 ceremony is racist in and of itself.
"It is racist to whites," she said, according to The Guardian's translation. "One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list."
Rampling, an Academy member, also implied that she wouldn't support the Academy's introduction of quotas. AMPAS may revamp Oscar categories and overhaul membership requirements as controversy grows over 2016's list of acting nominees.
"Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted," Rampling said. "People will always say: 'Him, he's less handsome'; 'Him, he's too black'; 'He is too white' ... someone will always be saying 'You are too' (this or that) ... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?"
Rampling is one of the 20 all-white Oscar nominees this year, which has prompted outcry about Hollywood's growing diversity problems. Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee have said they'll be sitting out the upcoming ceremony, while Lupita Nyong'o, George Clooney, David Oyelowo, Will Packer and others have criticized the show, which spawned the trending #OscarsSoWhite.
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement on Monday that the Academy "is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership" to address the issue, while former prexy Hawk Koch called on Hollywood to push diversity in an open letter released Thursday.
