The school of soft knocks
Twelve-years-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong was nominated in the worst actress category at this year's Razzies for her role in Firestarter. Unfortunately, mirthless dinkies likened the nomination of a child to bullying
. Even more unfortunately, the awards' organisers decided to bend over and grab their ankles.
John Wilson, Razzies co-founder, apologised and said on 25 January: "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. "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 to Ms Armstrong and wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices."
Annabel Rackham, BBC News
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see a child humiliated any more than the other contenders. But when individuals put themselves up there on screen, they have to accept the rough with the smooth, the criticism as well as the accolades; it's just part of the gig. And if she'd been nominated for an Oscar, those same dinkies would be lauding her nomination.
I'm unlikely to see first hand whether or not Armstrong deserved her nomination, or to have won for that matter, since I'll likely never watch any of the performances. Like all awards, the Razzies are as subjective and irrelevant as the Oscars in my opinion, albeit marginally more amusing for pricking Hollywood egos rather than coddling them.
And the Razzies doubled down on the self-flagellation by awarding themselves the worst actress dishonour. It's completely undeserved though: they played the role of a compliant whipped bitch so convincingly.