Actress Julie Delpy has issued an apology over comments she made at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday about Hollywood diversity. The actress remarked in an interview with The Wrap that the industry made her feel muzzled and that there's "nothing worse than being a woman in this business."
"Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media," she told The Wrap's Jeff Sneider. "It's funny - women can't talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don't bash them afterward."
Delpy's comments come after this year's Academy Awards faced intense public scrutiny for not having African-American actors and actresses up for nomination in its prestigious Best Actor and Best Actress categories, both categories full of primarily of white actors.
Now, the actresses has clarified her remarks, saying that it was never her intention to "diminish" the injustice that was done to African-American actors and actresses and other people who are struggling to attain equal opportunities and rights.
"All I was trying to do is to address the issues of inequality of opportunity in the industry for women as well (as I am a woman)," she said in a statement released to Entertainment Weekly. "I never intended to underestimate anyone else's struggle! We should stay alert and united and support each other to change this unfair reality and don't let anyone sabotage our common efforts by distorting the truth."
Delpy herself is an Oscar nominee, having twice been nominated for Best Original Screenplay for her work in "Before Sunset" and "Before Midnight."
Additionally, she starred alongside Chris Rock, the host for this year's Oscars, in the film "2 Days in New York," a film she also wrote, directed and produced, the Daily Mail U.K. reported.
