Razzie Awards bosses apologise to Ryan Kiera Armstrong and announce rule change
Razzie Awards bosses have apologised to 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong for her Worst Actress nomination and pledged to remove under 18s from future shortlists.
Razzie awards bosses will no longer include under 18s in their shortlists.
Organisers of the ceremony - which is formally known as the Golden Raspberry Awards and gives tongue-in-cheek recognition to the worst of the film industry over the last year - have issued a formal apology to 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong after facing a backlash for nominating her for Worst Actress for her performance in movie flop 'Firestarter'.
Razzies co-founder John Wilson has confirmed the youngster will no longer feature in the nominees alongside Bryce Dallas Howard ('Jurassic Park: Dominion'), Diane Keaton (Mack + Rita'), Kaya Scodelario ('The King's Daughter') and Alicia Silverstone ('The Requin').
He said: “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.”
And in acknowledging the "mistake" in nominating the young actress - who followed in the footsteps of a then-16-year-old Brooke Shields and Jake Lloyd, who was eight when he was shortlisted for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' - John vowed it won't be repeated in the future.
He added: “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.”
He explained they had made the decision because the organisation's motto is "Own Your Bad" and so “we ourselves must also live up to it.”
The winners will be announced on 11 March.
