Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling says diversity remarks misinterpreted

Rampling, 69, told France’s Europe 1 radio that, while it’s impossible to know for sure, “maybe the black actors didn’t deserve to be in the final stretch”.

“No, I find to the contrary, that it’s racist toward whites”, said Rampling, who is nominated for her role in the British drama “45 Years”.

Perhaps it would, but that’s not a good reason for her to win, and I infer from Rampling’s statement about classifying people that she agrees with awarding Oscars based on merit, not identity politics. Adding on to that, Rampling said that she meant to say that in an ideal world, every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration.

This comes after they were criticised for nominating white actors only for the second year in a row.

The Academy announced a new aim to double the number of female and minority members by 2020.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has promised to address the issue by examining how to increase diversity among voting members.

“Are their noses bent out of shape by the award nominations?” “There’s loads of black actors”, he said. “It reflects a series of challenges that we are having in our country at the moment”.

Director Spike Lee and actors Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have vowed not to attend the February 28 Oscar gala. 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)…

Speaking in French, she asked if the goal was to classify everybody and have “thousands of little minorities everywhere”.

But in a later interview with CBS News’ “Sunday Morning,” Rampling sought to clarify her remarks. When the interviewer then explained that black members of the film industry feel like a minority, Rampling responded, “No comment”.

“Why put people into categories?”

In an interview on BBC Radio 4, he was asked about “the argument going on in Hollywood at the moment, that not enough black actors – in fact, none – have been nominated for this year’s Oscars”. He praised Idris Elba’s “wonderful” work in Beasts of No Nation, which did not receive an Oscar nod. “It took me years to get an Oscar”.