Charlotte Rampling calls Oscars diversity controversy ‘racist to whites’

Charlotte Rampling, the acclaimed veteran British actress who finally earned her first Oscar nomination this year, said that the outrage over the lack of diversity at the Oscars is “racist to whites.”

Rampling, 69, made the comment during an interview with France's Europe 1 radio station Friday morning, reports The Guardian.

“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” Rampling continued, speaking in French. She also said that many need to stop classifying people and was strongly against the idea of quotas - which Spike Lee brought up this week.

“Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted,” she 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 was already a long-shot to win the Oscar for 45 Years, as Room’s Brie Larson is widely expected to win Best Actress. But her comments today probably didn’t help her cause, Many on Twitter were stunned by her comments.