People have been questioning the relevancy of the Razzies for years, and while the ceremony has always been deemed as frivolous fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously, many felt a line was crossed when 12 year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong was named among the nominees for Worst Actress.
Make no mistake about it, though, the Firestarter remake was terrible. An unmitigated failure on almost every level, it’s both one of the most unnecessary remakes and worst Stephen King adaptations to come along in a long while, but opting to put a child front-and-center when mocking the film’s shortcomings didn’t set well with a lot of people.
As a result, the Razzies was forced to issue an apology, retract Armstrong’s nomination, and place an age limit on nominees from then on out. To try and redeem itself even further, the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress was then officially handed over to the Golden Raspberry Awards for “Their 43rd Worst Actress Nominations Blunder.”
Not to call it a transparent ploy to atone for the sins of trying to make someone who’s barely even a teenager a figure of fun or anything, but technically it doesn’t even fall within the parameters of what should be nominated in the category, never mind read out as the victor on the night.
Maybe next year the organization won’t wade into such choppy waters, but it’s not as if anyone took the Razzies particularly seriously to begin with, although you can bet everyone will be quick to react if there’s any more controversy.