Charlotte Rampling: Oscars diversity debate racist to whites

The Guardian reports that Charlotte Rampling, a Best Actress nominee this year for her film 45 Years, said the backlash is prejudicial against white people.

Speaking fluent French in an interview with France’s Europe 1 radio, the British actress said that one would “never really know” how the Academy makes its decisions, and that “sometimes maybe black actors didn’t deserve to make the shortlist”. “And we are a dignified people and we are powerful”. “I thought he was wonderful, I thought he would get – did he not get nominated?“. “There is always someone who says ‘You are too…’ So are we going to say, ‘We will categorise all that to make lots of minorities everywhere?”‘

Charlotte Rampling has said the Oscars boycott is “racist to white people”.

This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Chris Rock, who has been called to join the boycott but is expected to remain as host.

Fans and movie buffs tweeted their dismay under the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which emerged a year ago after Academy nominations largely ignored critically acclaimed civil rights drama “Selma”. “That is the worst kind”.

The white-only list for the Oscars contrasts sharply with those names on the Golden Globes shortlist earlier this month – including “Samuel L Jackson in “The Hateful Eight”, Will Smith for “Concussion” and ‘Idris Elba” nominated twice. By the way, we’re talking about African Americans. This lead to stars such as Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and filmmaker Spike Lee to boycott the awards ceremony, with Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo revealing this week that he’s mulling the possibility of shunning the ceremony as well.

The Men in Black star said it would be “awkward” to attend in light of the ongoing debate about the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees.

To their credit, some white actors have chimed in with more reasonable responses. We can’t act?! WTF!!’ Michael Caine also chimed in, telling the BBC that nonwhite actors should “be patient”, because “it took [him] years to get an Oscar“.

But there are many in Hollywood who don’t agree.

The issue of possible racism in the Oscars is an ongoing issue, and sparks outrage year after year. That is the worst kind.

But some members of the Academy told The Hollywood Reporter that they’re not racist, they swear! Someone will always be saying, ‘You are too [this or that]’… “Of course it will come”. Reese Witherspoon posted on Facebook that she was“disappointed that some of 2015’s best films, filmmakers and performances were not recognized”, and added, “I would love to see a more diverse voting membership”.