Razzies founder John Wilson has apologized after facing backlash for nominating 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong for the worst actress award.
The annual ceremony is famous for parodying the awards season, and instead commemorate what they deem to be the worst big screen moments of the year.
The controversial ceremony has faced huge criticism in the past – most recently with Bruce Willis’ nomination last year – but sparked a massive backlash when they mentioned the Firestarter star’s name on their list of worst actresses, beside Bryce Dallas Howard, Diane Keaton, Kaya Scodelario and Alicia Silverstone.
After the fury, organizers quickly backtracked and confirmed that they had made the decision to withdraw the nomination.
In a new statement, obtained by Variety, Razzies boss John also issued a public apology to Ryan and announced that they will now have a minimum age on all nominees going forward.
‘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,’ he began. ‘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,’ John concluded.
‘Since our motto is “Own Your Bad,” we realize that we ourselves must also live up to it.’
Some of the biggest names in the industry have found themselves on the Razzies shortlists, including Tom Hanks and Jared Leto ahead of this year’s ceremony, which is held the day before the Oscars in March.
Among the nominations, organizers also singled out Blonde, Pinocchio and Machine Gun Kelly’s two films Good Mourning and Morbius as contenders for 2022’s worst film.
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