Christina Ricci blasts ‘elitist’ Oscars probe into Andrea Riseborough’s shock nod

Christina Ricci is furious with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The 42-year-old actress slammed the organization behind the Oscars in a seething Instagram post after the organization announced an investigation into campaign procedures following the shock nomination of Andrea Riseborough in the Best Actress category.

Riseborough scored a nod for her role as a single mom in the low-budget drama “To Leslie,” putting her in a competitive field alongside A-listers Cate Blanchett, Michelle Williams, Ana De Armas and Michelle Yeoh.

The creative team behind “To Leslie” allegedly lobbied the Academy to include the flick on the ballot and created a massive social media campaign to drum up buzz for a potential nomination, Deadline reports.

But after Riseborough’s nomination shocked the industry — and caused some upset — the Academy released a vague statement saying: “We are conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication.”

“We have confidence in the integrity of our nomination and voting procedures, and support genuine grassroots campaigns for outstanding performances,” the statement continued.

While it stopped short of naming Riseborough in particular, many — including Ricci — saw the investigation as an “elitist” attack on the indie film star.

“Seems hilarious that the ‘surprise nomination’ (meaning tons of money wasn’t spent to position this actress) of a legitimately brilliant performance is being met with an investigation,” Ricci wrote in her now-deleted Instagram post.

“So it’s only the films and actors that can afford the campaigns that deserve recognition?,” her post continued. “Feels elitist and exclusive and frankly very backward to me.”

The actress added that she fully believes that Riseborough had “nothing to do with the campaigning” for her nomination and said that “her nomination will be tainted by this.”

“If it’s taken away shame on them,” she concluded.

“To Leslie” and Riseborough’s Oscar chances both rose in profile after celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Edward Norton, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Aniston and Kate Winslet hosted screenings of the film.

Meanwhile, Ricci isn’t the first celeb to slam the Academy’s investigation.

Marc Maron — who stars alongside Riseborough in “To Leslie” — also spoke out against the investigation on his WTF podcast on Monday.

“Apparently, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences or whatever the f – – k it is has decided to investigate Andrea Riseborough’s grassroots campaign to get her the Oscar nomination,” he raged. “Because I guess it so threatens their system that they’re completely bought out by corporate interests in the form of studios.”

“Millions of dollars [are] put into months and months of advertising campaigns, publicity, screenings by large corporate entertainment entities and Andrea was championed by her peers through a grassroots campaign which was pushed through by a few actors,” he continued.

“The Academy is [like], ‘Well, we gotta take a look at this. This is not the way it’s supposed to work. Independent artists don’t deserve the attention of the Academy unless we see how it works exactly. So, we’re going to look into this.’” 

Further details of the investigation are expected to be announced by the Academy on Tuesday, Jan. 31.