Andy Samberg says people who have issue with Oscar diversity requirements should ‘f*** off’

New rules have been introduced following the #OscarsSoWhite movement

Andy Samberg says award voters unwilling to accept diversity targets should “f*** off”.

Speaking to Variety, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star discussed the Oscars’ new diversity targets, which have been introduced to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience”.

Under new rules, films will only be eligible for the Best Picture category if they include underrepresented groups throughout the production.

Samberg said it was “insane” that people would take issue with what he deemed to be a small change.

“The parameters, if you look at them closely, you can have the whitest cast in the history of cinema and still very easily meet them by just doing a few key roles behind the camera,” he said.

“It’s… people who have problems with it can f*** off.”

The new requirements apply to underrepresented groups including women, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities, and will be a requirement from 2024.

One criteria is that the film must include “at least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group”.

They were introduced following the #OscarsSoWhite movement, which noted the lack of black nominees at the 2016 ceremony.