Without a shadow of a doubt, this year's Academy Awards will be the most controversial in its 88-year history and that's before a single Oscar has been given out.
What with the controversy surrounding its lack of diversity across all the major categories, a number of high-profile actors and directors have staged a boycott with more expected to follow on the run-up to the ceremony. In the face of all this, it can be pretty tough to go out and face a crowd, but if anyone can do it, it's Chris Rock.
The veteran comedian has said that he has now thrown out almost all of his material and rewritten it to specifically address the controversy surrounding the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. Speaking in a recent interview, Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin stated that "...as things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, 'I'm throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show. Chris is that thorough. He's brilliant, and I have 1000% confidence that he will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks."
For their part, the Academy - according to Hudlin, anyway - say they're prepared for whatever Rock has to say. "They're excited about him doing that. They know that's what we need. They know that's what the public wants, and we deliver what the people want," explained Hudlin.
Meanwhile, various voting members of the Academy have been speaking out on the controversy, although not all accept that the voting process is inherently racist. Milton Justice, a documentary-maker who's been on the Documentary Branch of the Academy said that "eliminating members who dedicated their life to this profession, and may have retired from their work life, is both placing blame on them and pissing on their life's work."
Charlotte Rampling, meanwhile, has rowed back on her comments that the controversy is racist against white people. "I regret that my comments could have been misinterpreted this week in my interview with Europe 1 Radio," said Rampling during a CBS interview.
