Razzies founder hit with backlash for calling out 12-year-old actor

Ryan Kiera Armstrong, a 12-year-old actor, was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Firestarter until outrage over her age caused the organisation to rescind its choice.

It is inconceivable that the deliberation - that I am assuming runs through a team of different people before it is settled on and publicised - decided to put a child into consideration. Golden Raspberry Awards are unfortunate enough as even those with an immutable sense of humour about themselves likely don't want their work to be derided, even if their heart wasn't in the performance.

Armstrong plays Charlie McGee in the 2022 remake of Firestarter based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film wasn't met with warm reviews, ironically, with criticisms over the plot's structure, predictability, lack of visual excitement and shoddy effects. While countless actors have had a flop or five in their career, Armstrong is still only a child and instant backlash was seen over her inclusion in the 43rd Golden Raspberry Awards for the potential harm it could incur on her self-esteem.

Why do we still have #TheRazzies ? What possible redeeming quality do they have? Were they ever funny, relevant, necessary? In an industry trying hard to evolve & be more conscious isn't this one of those crude dinosaurs that just needs to become extinct? https://t.co/pNjRI453YJ

— Jonathan Lloyd Walker (@J_L_Walker) January 25, 2023

“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,” said John Wilson, founder of the awards, in a statement given on Wednesday. “The recent valid criticism of the choice of 12-year-old Armstrong as a nominee for one of our awards brought our attention to how insensitive we’ve been in this instance.”

“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.”

“Since our motto is ‘Own Your Bad,’ we realize that we ourselves must also live up to it,” concluded the statement.