Movies

Charlotte Rampling is one of the 20 white people nominated for an acting award at this year's Oscars ... and she thinks people who have a problem with that are racist.

Rampling -- who scored a Best Actress nom for her role in the movie "45 Years" -- told Radio 1 in France she finds the outrage over the absence of minorities to be "racist to whites."

In the interview, conducted in French, Rampling went on to say, "You never know if it was really the case, but perhaps the black players do not deserve to be in the final stretch."

Michael Vitar, "The Sandlot" star who played Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, walked into an L.A. court and entered a not guilty plea in the beatdown of a college kid.

Vitar, who quit acting to be a firefighter and the 2 other alleged assailants were all in court to enter their pleas. The other two also pleaded not guilty.

We broke the story, Vitar was charged with felony assault for allegedly attacking Samuel Chang, a 23-year-old UCSB student on Halloween last year.

Vitar and his co-defendants are due back in court in March.

Tony Rock took multiple, super-strong positions on the black Oscar snub, supporting his brother Chris hosting the show while blasting black people for repeatedly begging for white acceptance.

Tony's diatribe is pretty amazing ... like Jada Pinkett Smith, he's not calling for a boycott of the Oscars, but he's done with futile attempts at validation.

This one's definitely worth a listen.

Will Smith will spend Oscar night with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and not at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Will went on "Good Morning America" to talk about The Oscars, the lack of black nominees, and Jada's stance that black filmmakers should stop begging white Hollywood for acceptance.

As for why he won't be at the award show, he said it feels "uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is ok."

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Spike Lee has already said he's skipping the show and there have been calls from some African-American stars for Chris Rock to step down as host.

Ice Cube thinks he knows what would've help him snag an Oscar nomination for best picture ... a slave.

Cube went on Angie Martinez's Power 105.1 show and blasted the Academy, saying he wasn't about to kiss their ass for affirmation of "Straight Outta Compton."

This one's gotta sting over at the Academy.

Jeremy Renner's had tons of kickass roles in Hollywood -- from 'Avengers' to 'Mission Impossible' and the 'Bourne Legacy' -- but he still won't step in a boxing ring ... with Usher.

Renner's next role is playing a boxer in a Marciano biopic, but he's got a completely different idea for the leg work than Usher's two-a-days to play Sugar Ray Leonard.

Think ... Popeye.

Connor Cruise -- an up-and-coming DJ -- may not be like his dad, but he sure doesn't mind dressing like him.

Connor and papa Tom Cruise hung out on the set of "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" in New Orleans.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee now have a powerful ally in Quincy Jones, who's flexing his influence with the Academy Awards to address its lack of black nominees.

The legendary producer is the first African American on the Academy's board of governors and on Wednesday he told reporters, "We've got to find a solution. It's been going on for too long."

Quincy said he planned to ask for 5 minutes in front of the board to discuss the hottest topic in Hollywood, and if they don't give him the time ... he says he'll refuse to present at the Oscars.

He's supposed to present an award with Common and Pharrell Williams.

If Usher can act as well as he throws a punch, he's gonna kill as boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard in the upcoming Roberto Duran biopic "Hands of Stone."

Usher's actually been training for 2 years at Decatur Boxing Club outside Atlanta. The club's owner Xavier Biggs tells us his student put in two-a-days -- 2 hours a day, 6 days a week and even met with Sugar Ray to prepare for the role in the film.

Filming has wrapped, but Usher hasn't stopped climbing into the ring. Biggs -- whose brother won Olympic gold -- says the singer's gotten so good he can hang with the pros.

Spike Lee says Hollywood needs to take its cue from the NFL -- forcing studios to institute a "Rooney Rule" ... requiring studios to greenlight a certain number of movies featuring minorities.

Lee was on 'GMA' Wednesday morning when he said the problem with the Oscars is deeper than who gets nominated -- it's the fact black movies and black actors aren't getting the opportunities in the Hollywood boardrooms.

That's why Lee wants a "Rooney Rule" -- an NFL policy that requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and minority jobs.

Lee feels that someone needs to force Hollywood to hit a mandatory quota when it comes to making minority films.

Watch the clip ... seems Michael Strahan is down to play the role of enforcer.

Spike Lee has corrected the media for reporting he was calling for an Oscar boycott.

Spike appeared on 'GMA' and made it clear ... blasting the Academy for shutting out black actors and films and vowing not to attend the ceremony is NOT the same as calling for a boycott.

Lee said he and his wife would be at the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden the night of the Oscars, and everyone else can either attend or not ... not his business.

There were lots of reports Jada Pinkett Smith also called for a boycott, which she did not. She said it's time for African Americans to stop begging the Academy for acceptance and do their own thing in their own community.

As for Chris Rock, Spike's making no judgment on whether he should still host.

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Tyrese is telling Chris Rock to bail out on his Oscars hosting gig because it's a no-win situation for the comedian.

Tyrese put the pressure on Chris, saying ... "There is no joke you can crack to ever change the way we all feel." 50 Cent similarly encouraged him to quit.

Chris is in a tough spot -- enough people, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee and Snoop Dogg ... have blasted the Academy's lack of diversity. So, it's obvious he'll have to address the matter during the Oscars broadcast.

But Tyrese's point -- this is one situation where Rock's comedic skills won't be appropriate. So far, Rock's standing firm.

Snoop Dogg went off on the Oscars ... not just calling for a boycott, but saying it's a personal affront to all African Americans.

We didn't censor the video because it would have ruined the impact.

Point made.

Will Smith's old 'Fresh Prince' co-star is on the attack ... saying he and Jada Pinkett Smith are NOT the Obamas, and black Hollywood isn't gonna sing "we shall overcome" with them.

Janet Hubert, the original Aunt Viv, blasted Jada's anti-Oscars stance with a rambling video post that started ... "First of all, Miss Thang, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?"

Hubert goes on to accuse the Smiths of being sore losers, and says there are way more important things going on in the world -- "Our boys are being shot left and right, people are hungry, people are trying to pay bills and you talking about some motherf***ing actors and Oscars."

The President of the Motion Picture Academy has issued what feels like a frantic response to calls of boycott for the lily white 2016 Oscar nominations.

Prez Cheryl Boone Isaacs just announced her org will take "dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership." She says the Academy will conduct a review of its membership "in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our class of 2016 and beyond."

It appears the President -- the first African American ever elected to the position -- is reacting in part to calls for a boycott from Spike Lee and others. Jada Pinkett Smith went even further, saying the Academy has become irrelevant to African Americans and they should no longer beg for representation -- they should get validation from their own community and that should be enough.

Boone Isaacs says she is "heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion," adding, "In 2016 the mandate is inclusion in all ... facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation."

She made it clear ... members of the Academy and beyond have expressed their frustration to her.

DJ Paul's either not feeling the Oscar snub much of Hollywood is feeling or he just has a funny way of showing it.

The Three 6 Mafia rapper helped son Nautica ring in his 20th birthday -- which also happened to be Paul's big day -- in Vegas over the weekend. Judging from the 12:1 ratio on the dance floor ... his son had a great time.

We're told the father-son bash began with a screening of 'Star Wars' before they hit the club at D Casino for an EDM show. He got Nautica a 'Star Wars' cake and an Oscar themed cake for himself.

It's hard out there for a pimp ... but not for DJ Paul and his son.