<<Print>>

Comedian Chris Rock will still host this year's Oscars, despite coming under pressure to pull out of the role, according to the show's producer. Reginald Hudlin said Rock is hard at work rewriting his material after several actors decided to boycott the event due to the absence of Oscar-nominated performers who are black. In an interview with the US network Entertainment Tonight, Mr Hudlin said: "As things got a little provocative and exciting, he (Rock) said, 'I'm throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show." He said he expects Rock to make jokes about #OscarsSoWhite, adding: "And, yes, the Academy is ready for him to do that." He also said he is confident Rock's material "will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks". Actor Will Smith, his actress wife Jada Pinkett Smith, director Spike Lee and a handful of others declared they would not be attending the 28 February event. Others, including actors George Clooney, Mark Ruffalo, Lupita Nyong'o, David Oyelowo, Viola Davis and British director Steve McQueen, have spoken of their disappointment with the lack of diversity among the nominees. But Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling has expressed reservations about the campaign. In an interview on French radio station Europe 1, Rampling said the uproar was "racist to white people". She later added that her comments had been "misinterpreted". On Friday, the film academy promised to double the number of female and minority members by 2020. Three new seats will be added to its board of governors in an effort to improve diversity, and lifetime voting rights will be limited.