Tim Burton sparked debate on social media as he defended the lack of diversity in his new film, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.

The Edward Scissorhands director said people were increasingly talking about diversity but “things either call for things, or they don’t”.

In an interview with the website Bustle, he said: “I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, OK, let’s have an Asian child and a black. I used to get more offended by that.

Tim Burton (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Tim Burton (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

“I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right? And I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, OK, there should be more white people in these movies.”

Samuel L Jackson – who plays the only non-white main character in Tim’s latest film – said the issue did not deter him from taking the part.

He told Bustle: “I had to go back in my head and go, how many black characters have been in Tim Burton movies?

“And I may have been the first, I don’t know… I don’t think it’s any fault of his or his method of storytelling, it’s just how it’s played out. Tim’s a really great guy.”

Tim began trending on Twitter following his comments, with some people criticising his stance on diversity, while others pointing out the filmmaker’s trend of using the same actors such as Johnny Depp or his ex-partner Helena Bonham Carter.