The Razzies have been terrible and meaningless for a long time, and everybody knows it. At this point, they are a money-generating scheme only, and no longer function as the anti-Oscars parody as originally intended. How can you be by only attacking low-hanging fruit? Well, The Razzies went too low this time, by nominating 12-year-old Firestarter lead Ryan Kiera Armstrong for Worst Actress. The public backlash was swift and brutal, and The Razzies have come to bow down and beg forgiveness.
In a press statement, Razzies founder John Wilson apologized for nominating Armstrong, rescinding her nomination and declaring that actors under the age of 18 will no longer be considered.
“The recent valid criticism of the choice of 11 year old Armstrong as a nominee for one of our awards brought our attention to how insensitive we’ve been in this instance. As a result, we have removed Armstrong’s name from the Final Ballot that our members will cast next month. We also believe a public apology is owed Ms. Armstrong, and wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices.”
While Armstrong has not said anything on the issues, which is probably the smart move, a number of actors have come to her defense, including former child actor Devon Sawa and WandaVision‘s Julian Hilliard.
Here’s the thing; The Razzies have always been trash, not particularly clever, and as we saw with their rescinding of Bruce Willis’ nominations, they aim for easy targets and don’t consider any outside factors. It’d be much better if outlets would stop covering them alongside The Oscars as if they equal. They most certainly are not.
Fortunately, it doesn’t look as if the Razzies will hurt Armstrong in any way. She was recently very good opposite Nicolas Cage in The Old Way.
The complete Razzies press statement is below.
Sometimes, you do things without thinking, Then you are called out for it. Then you get it. It’s why the Razzies were created in the first place.
The recent valid criticism of the choice of 11 year old Armstrong as a nominee for one of our awards brought our attention to how insensitive we’ve been in this instance. As a result, we have removed Armstrong’s name from the Final Ballot that our members will cast next month. We also believe a public apology is owed Ms. Armstrong, and wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices.
Having learned from this lesson, we would also like to announce that, from this point forward, we are adopting a Voting Guideline precluding any performer or film-maker under 18 years of age from being considered for our awards.
We have never intended to bury anyone’s career. It is why our Redeemer Award was created. We all make mistakes, very much us included.
Since our motto is “Own Your Bad,” we realize that we ourselves must also live up to it.
Sincerely,
John Wilson, The Razzie Awards
