Tyrese Gibson: Chris Rock should step down as Oscar host

Tyrese Gibson is the latest star to weigh in on the growing controversy over the lack of diversity in the 2016 Oscar nominations.

In an interview with People on Wednesday, the Furious 7 actor called for Chris Rock, who was announced as the host of the awards show in October, to step down from the job.

"There is no joke that he can crack," Gibson told the magazine. "There is no way for him to seize the moment and come into this thing and say, 'I'm going to say this and say that I'm going to address the issue but then I'm still going to keep my gig as the host.' The statement that you make is that you step down."

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Gibson suggested that if the situation hypothetically involved underrepresentation of LGBT individuals, and Rock was gay, he would have stepped down.

"If they purposefully left out all homosexuals and gays from being nominated for an Oscar  if the host Chris Rock was a homosexual, he would have stepped down already," he said.

The controversy surrounding the nominations has only grown since they were announced last week, and of the 20 acting nominees honored, not a single was a person of color. Fans, stars and the media have weighed in, calling on the Academy, and the film industry in general, to work on diversity. Director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett-Smith have both said publicly that they will not attend the ceremony. Oscar winners George Clooney and Lupita Nyong'o have spoken out.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, an African American woman, responded to the controversy over the nominations on Monday night.

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"I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion (in the nominations)," she said. "This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond."

Rock himself has not directly weighed in on the issue, although he alluded to it in a tweet with his latest TV promo for the hosting gig, calling the Oscars the "White BET Awards."

Gibson praised the actions of Lee and Pinkett-Smith in his interview. "If you have a problem with feeling like you're being excluded, all across the board, you don't just sit on your hands and complain," he explained. "You fix it."

The singer also said that he feels bad for the actors who were nominated, including Leonardo DiCaprio, where the controversy may overshadow the good work they've done this year in film.

"I feel bad on behalf of Leo that I believe this is going to be the year that he finally wins an Oscar for best actor and this is all going down," he explained.

Gibson wrapped up his interview by noting that the Academy can no longer act as if things like this will go unnoticed.

"This is not us saying we're against the Oscars because we're gonna combat racism," he said. "We're just saying, 'Yo, this is not cool.' You can't be doing this in 2016 and act as if no one is gonna notice."

The Oscars will take place on Feb. 28.