Charlotte Rampling is clarifying her controversial comments about the burgeoning Oscars boycott, saying that she regrets if people misunderstood her.
“I regret that my comments could have been misinterpreted this week in my interview with Europe 1 Radio,” Rampling said in an interview to air on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
“I simply meant to say that in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration,” the actress, who’s currently nominated for an Oscar, said. “I am very honored to be included in this year’s wonderful group of nominated actors and actresses.”
Rampling raised eyebrows with her comments in the Europe 1 interview, during which she appeared to suggest that the campaign against the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees is “racist to whites.”
“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” the actress said.
Rampling, who’s nominated in the Best Actress category for “45 Years,” continued, “Why classify people?
“These days everyone is more or less accepted. … Do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?” Rampling added.
Hollywood has come under criticism for failing to nominate a single actor of color in any of the Academy Awards acting categories for the second consecutive year.
On Monday, director Spike Lee announced that he would not attend what he called the “lily-white Oscars,” while leading entertainment figures Jada Pinkett Smith and husband Will Smith announced they will not be attending either.