A white Oscar nominee says the outrage over the lack of black nominees this year is “racist to white people.”
Charlotte Rampling is one of the nominees for best actress for her role in the British film 45 Years.
“It is racist to whites,” the 69-year-old said in an interview on French Radio network Europe 1 on Friday, according to the Guardian.
“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” she added.
The uproar began after the top 20 nominees included no black actors or actresses, and became even more intense after black power-couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and director Spike Lee, announced they wouldn’t attend the awards ceremony.
This photo provided by Netflix shows Idris Elba, left, as Commandant, and Abraham Attah, center, as Agu, in the Netflix original film, "Beasts of No Nation," directed by Cary Fukunaga. Shawn Greene/Netflix via AP
