The Razzies implement age limit after Ryan Kiera Armstrong backlash
The international clown show known as The Razzies has rightfully fallen from grace over the last couple of years. Once one of the most enjoyable swipes at the pretentiousness of award shows, The Golden Raspberry Awards is now generally seen as mean-spirited, unfunny, pandering, and attention-grabbing in the worst possible ways.
Of course, it doesn’t help that The Razzies have shot themselves in the foot at nearly every conceivable turn. It’s not just the things that made them look douchey despite not having any control over, like when they made a whole category for Bruce Willis films in 2021 and then retracted it after the actor announced his diagnosis with aphasia and subsequent retirement. No, The Razzies love making occasional racist, sexist, and inappropriate choices on their own accord.
Take, for instance, their long history of nominating literal children for mockery. The Razzies were never afraid to pick out performances from kids and line them up to take shots at them, whether it was Gary Coleman for 1982’s On the Right Track, Jake Lloyd for 1999’s Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, or Macaulay Culkin on three separate occasions before his 15th birthday.
This year, The Razzies took aim at 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong for her starring role in the recent Stephen King adaptation Firestarter. Along with seasoned actresses like Bryce Dallas Howard and Diane Keaton (who, you know, are adults), Armstrong was among the nominees for ‘Worst Actress’. Criticism against The Razzies isn’t anything new, but the general public seemed to be agreed that mocking a 12-year-old wasn’t really necessary.
After Razzies founder John J. B. Wilson dismissed the backlash as “overblown” in an interview with Buzzfeed, Armstrong has now been removed from the list of nominees.
“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,” Wilson wrote in a statement. “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.”
The Razzies also announced that, going forward, there would be a new age limit for nominees. “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.”
Will the age limit stop The Razzies one of the more eye-rolling parts of award season? Probably not. Will the age limit stop The Razzies from making decisions in poor taste? Absolutely not.
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