Razzie Awards face sharp criticism for nominating ‘Firestarter’ youngster star: ‘Repulsive and incorrect’ (up to date)

FIRESTARTER, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, 2022. ph: Ken Woroner / © Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Ryan Kiera Armstrong in ‘Firestarter’ (Photograph: Ken Woroner/Common Footage/courtesy Everett Assortment)

UPDATE Jan. 25, 2023: In response to the outcry, the Golden Raspberry Basis has eliminated 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong from the poll. In a press release, Razzies co-founder John Wilson issued an apology and known as the criticism “legitimate,” saying the backlash “introduced our consideration to how insensitive we have been on this occasion. Because of this, we have now eliminated Armstrong’s identify from the ultimate poll that our members will forged subsequent month. We additionally imagine a public apology is owed Ms. Armstrong, and want to say we remorse any harm she skilled because of our selections.”

ORIGINAL STORY: Since their launch in 1981, the Golden Raspberry Awards have positioned themselves because the anti-Academy Awards. Proclaiming theselves “Oscar’s ugly cousin,” the rabble-rousing Razzies dishonored the worst motion pictures and performances in an business notorious for over-awarding itself this time of 12 months with quirky categories. For example, Jackass: The Film received Most Flatulent Teen-Focused Film in 2002, whereas the infamous turkey The Cat within the Hat was named Worst Excuse for an Precise Film in 2003.

Good-natured celebrities like Tom Inexperienced (a five-time winner for 2002’s Freddy Bought Fingered), Halle Berry (Worst Actress for 2004’s Catwoman) and Sandra Bullock (who scored a Razzie for All About Steve the evening earlier than profitable an Oscar for The Blind Facet in 2010) all confirmed up on the in any other case low-key ceremony to gather their trophies.

In newer years, nonetheless, the Razzies have misplaced each pop-culture cachet and the goodwill of cinephiles. “Is it time to retire the Razzie Awards?,” greater than a few pundits have asked. A few of the blowback may very well be chalked as much as fatigue — perhaps we’ve advanced previous the snark; perhaps the four-decades-old gag simply jumped the shark — however the nominating committee has additionally made some very public missteps in recent times which have resulted in rising criticism.

The newest controversy got here Monday when the Razzies chosen 12-year-old Firestarter actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong amongst the list of nominees for Worst Actress, up there with Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World: Dominion), Diane Keaton (Mack & Rita), Kaya Scodelario (The King’s Daughter) and Alicia Silverstone (The Requin).

By no means thoughts that Armstrong (It Chapter Two, Black Widow, The Outdated Manner) is likely one of the most gifted, most prolific youngster actors working, or that she was hardly the worst a part of the failed Stephen King remake. The problem, after all, is that she is a toddler being mocked by adults — even because the Razzies insist it’s all only a joke.

Regardless, the group is dealing with a stinging rebuke over the nomination.

“In case you thought the Razzies would determine to be much less mean-spirited this 12 months, assume once more, as this 12 months’s nominees for worst actress embody a 12-year-old lady,” wrote Variety’s Ethan Shanfeld.

“The Razzies have sunk to a brand new low by nominating an eleven-year-old lady — whose efficiency I truly dug,” tweeted filmmaker Joe Russo (not thatJoe Russo). “In case you’re gonna proceed denigrating folks’s onerous work — which you shouldn’t — no less than goal adults.”

“The [Razzies] are already mean-spirited & classless, however to appoint a child is simply repulsive & incorrect,” wrote one other youngster actor, Julian Hilliard. “Why put a child prone to elevated bullying or worse? Be higher.”

There was no speedy remark from the Golden Raspberry Basis, the group behind the Razzies, in regards to the newest backlash.

Though Armstrong’s nomination appears to be a tipping level, this isn’t the primary youngster actor nominated by the group. Earlier nominees have included Diana Scarwid (who performed Joan Crawford’s daughter in 1981’s Mommie Dearest), Jake Lloyd (who performed a really younger Anakin Skywalker in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) and Macaulay Culkin (for 3 totally different performances in 1995).

The controversy over Armstrong’s nomination comes only a 12 months after the Golden Raspberry Basis embarrassed itself by making a particular class known as Worst Efficiency by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Film, only to rescind the designation as soon as Willis’s household revealed he was struggling with the neurological disorder aphasia and stepping away from acting. Willis had appeared in 11 motion pictures in 2021, however a number of reviews instructed that, as a consequence of his deteriorating well being, he was being exploited by the business to seem in cash-grab motion pictures.

There are definitely factions of film fandom which have by no means given the Razzies a lot credence. Of their inaugural 12 months, the Razzies focused one other Stephen King adaptation, bestowing Worst Director on Stanley Kubrick for the horror traditional The Shining. Nevertheless, the group behind the awards introduced final 12 months introduced it could “take back” costar Shelley Duvall’s Worst Actress award as a result of alleged abuse she acquired on set from Kubrick.

However as hostility in direction of the Razzies appears to develop by the years, it appears Hollywood has a hands-down contender for Worst Award Present.

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