Asked about a number of black actors and entertainers boycotting the Academy Awards, Clint Eastwood at first deflected, saying that “I don’t know anything about it.”
However, Eastwood then appeared to dismiss the protesters.
“All I know is there’s thousands of people in the Academy, and the majority of them haven’t won Oscars. A lot of people are crying I guess,” Eastwood said.
Entertainers like Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee have called for a boycott of the Oscars after no African American was nominated for best actor, actress, or director for the second year in a row.
The boycott has received backlash from a number of sources. Actress Charlotte Rampling, who is nominated for Best Actress this year, said that the boycott was “racist against whites.”
Rampling’s comment made the rounds in the press and was heavily criticized. She later said that her comments had been “misinterpreted,” according to CBS.
“I simply meant to say that in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration,” Rampling said.
