BREAKING: Brett Ratner Resigns As Producer of the Academy Awards
Never underestimate the power of #RatnerFreeOscars! Just 24 hours after news of Brett Ratner's insensitive remarks about rehearsals (they're "for fags") and his sex life caused critics to protest his involvement in this year's 84th Academy Awards telecast, the Tower Heist director has stepped down as producer.
"I called [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president] Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast," Ratner explained in a lengthy apology/statement issued just minutes ago. "Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents."
Even though Sherak showed his support for the Tower Heist director yesterday after his series of ill-advised statements, the AMPAS president approves of his resignation.
"He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself," Sherak said in a statement from the AMPAS. "Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent."
As Sherak looks for a new producer for this year's ceremony, Movieline would like to kindly point him towards the replacement suggestions made by our dear readers yesterday.
It is not yet known whether Eddie Murphy, whom the Tower Heist director recruited as this year's Oscars host, will also step away from this year's ceremony.
Developing...
· Brett Ratner Out as Oscar Show Producer [THR]
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Bret Ratner: "Rehearsing is for fags."
Tom Sherak: "You know, the Oscarcast is a live show. You're gonna have to rehearse that."
Bret Ratner: "But if I have to rehearse it, then I'll be a..."
Tom Sherak: nods knowingly
Hilarious.
But now who will produce the the over back slappy celebration of mediocre films over truly deserving films that we'll anticipate and over analyze for months, complain about for a week after, then completely forget until this time next year?
(and for what it's worth, can we replace all Ratner pictures with pictures of kittens so I don't have to look at him anymore? Or at least Fran Drescher?)
Would somebody please give Ratner a strip club to run in the Valley and keep him away from awards programs and movie sets?
Yay, the thin-skinned crybabies get what they want yet again, which accomplishes nothing but to make ALL of us gays seem like a bunch of whiny-ass pussies. Way to win a battle but continue losing the war, pansies!
Is there a photo of that guy where he doesn't look like a complete knobhead?
Ugh. So approximately how many bad Ratner jokes will we be forced to listen to come ceremony time?
Is he going to apologize to Bryan Singer next?
Ding dong, the witch is dead!
Please let them hire a woman to produce the Big Show. It's time, I tell ya! We are the ones who watch it, yet year after year are faced with man after man after man in every category except the acting awards, costumes, maybe screenwriting (if we are lucky) and the rarified year a woman is nominated for director.
Yaaaay! Let's ban Sarah Silverman, all Tarantino movies, also all comics who do Christian jokes. GET THE F____ over it. All you did was bully a jack--- out of producing a sh--ty oscar show. Pat yourself on the back.
Maybe they could photoshop an apple into his mouth.