Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais has urged actor Chris Rock to do some "serious damage" when he hosts the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.

Rock, 50, is reportedly under pressure to boycott the Oscars after the Academy was slammed for a lack of diversity in the nomination list for next month's ceremony, but the Golden Globes host has urged Rock to use the live platform to his advantage, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Gervais posted on Twitter: "If I were @chrisrock, I wouldn't be considering boycotting The Oscars. I'd be thinking 'this s**t is live. I can do some serious damage'."

His tweet comes after it was revealed that director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith have declined their invites to attend the ceremony.