Whoopi Goldberg has called for stars to "boycott" movies rather than the Academy Awards.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg

The 60-year-old star insists the Oscars cannot be "racist" because she won a Best Supporting Actress accolade in 1991 for her role in 'Ghost', and believes the real misrepresentation problem is in the films.

Speaking about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which has seen several celebrities such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee vow to boycott the awards ceremony because of a lack of diversity in the nominations, she said: "The issue is not the Academy.

"Even if you fill the Academy with black and Latino and Asian members, if there's no one on the screen to vote for, you're not going to get the outcome that you want.

"I won once. So it can't be that racist.

"You wanna boycott something? Don't go see the movies that don't have your representation. That's the boycott you want.

"To me, we have this conversation every year. It p***es me off."

On Friday (22.01.16), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vowed to double the number of female and diverse members by 2020, but Whoopi doesn't think anything will change unless movie bosses alter their recruitment.

Speaking on US talk show 'The View', she added: "You need directors and producers who will say, 'Hey, what about so and so?'

"They need to be aware that the picture is not complete."

It's not the first time Whoopi has spoken about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy on 'The View'.

Last week, she argued against the boycott, saying the problem goes beyond the Oscars and snubbing the ceremony would be a "slap in the face" for host Chris Rock.

Following an impassioned speech on how there is "no place for black movies", she said: "Chris Rock is the host of the Academy Awards and so to boycott him seems just as bad as what everybody is saying.

"We have this conversation every year and it p***es me off.

"Boycotting doesn't work and it's also a slap in the face to Chris Rock."