Steve Harvey's advice to Oscar host Chris Rock: 'Be bigger and blacker'

As dialogue continues over the Academy Awards' all-white acting nominations, Steve Harvey has a special message for host Chris Rock: Don't boycott. Be blacker.

Harvey discussed the #OscarsSoWhite trend — and the celebrity calls for Rock to boycott — on his daytime talk show Thursday. "The Academy Awards are this Sunday night, everybody, and, as you know, a number of actors are either protesting this ceremony or boycotting it altogether," he began. "That sets up quite the dilemma for the show’s host, my buddy, personal friend, Chris Rock."

Or does it? 

"He has got to host this show," Harvey said. "It's absolutely wrong for them to ask him not to. He has got to host this show."

"I don’t know if you remember his stand-up routine, Bigger & Blacker," the host continued in reference to the topical special, which debuted in 1999. "Well, Chris, I need you to be bigger and blacker. And I want you to be so black that you represent the 40 actors that ain't coming that night."

Keyword: Represent. 

If Rock's slick Oscar promos and pointed Martian costume are any indication, we can at least expect some even-handed social commentary, if not hot-sauce-in-my-bag black. Tune in for the ceremony on Sunday (ABC, 7 p.m. ET/4 PT).

No A's for effort on H'wood's diversity report card

'SNL's Sasheer Zamata: 7 tips to fix Hollywood's diversity problem