Harvey Weinstein has joked Oscars host Chris Rock will "annihilate" Hollywood at the ceremony on Sunday (28.02.16).
The 63-year-old producer has urged people not to boycott the Academy Awards because he thinks the comedian will use his wit and take aim at actors, movie makers and industry big-wigs for "the first 20 minutes", following the row over the lack of diversity in the nominees list.
The ‘Carol’ producer said: "I just can imagine Chris Rock’s opening remarks. If anybody’s [planning on] boycotting the Oscars, don’t, because Chris Rock is gonna annihilate every one of us [leaders of Hollywood studios/distribution companies] in the first 20 minutes of the show, and it will be well worth watching. It will be an Oscars to remember."
Despite his comments, Harvey knows how it feels to want to speak up against the prevalent lack of multiculturalism across the film industry and stood against it in his own way, by releasing three films about ethnic diversity in one year as an experiment of sorts.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "It’s that voice, actually, that gets people motivated. because you don’t want the boycott. That’s how people use their personal power to force change. So I look at that and go, ‘Great,’ because everybody’s thinking about that now.
"I thought about it a couple of years ago because it had bugged me over the years that the films that I did about ethnic diversity never got anything. So I said, ‘I’m gonna stack the deck for myself: I’m gonna put out ‘The Butler’, ‘Mandela’ and ‘Fruitvale Station’ in the same year.’
"We got one nomination."
Because of the #OscarsSoWhite row, stars such as Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith aren’t attending the glitzy bash in Los Angeles and rapper Snoop Dogg slammed the Oscars, saying he won’t be tuning in.
Harvey Weinstein: Chris Rock will shake up Oscars bash
