The Brett Ratner Flap

[OscarGuy]

There's been buzz that Gervais will be back to host the Globes.

But I'm glad to hear Ratner take the step to resign as producer. However, I'm sure he got a prod to do it from the Academy so they didn't have to publicly fire him.

And there's no way Murphy will step down. This is a dream of his, so I doubt he will willingly turn away and even so, it wasn't his words that caused the problem.

[dbensics]

Anyone know if the Globes have announced a host for the January 2012 show?

Hope it's Ricky Gervais but I doubt it.

[Big Magilla]

It's over

Brett Ratner is calling it quits.

In a stunning turn of events, the controversial director has resigned from producing the Academy Awards telecast...

READ: Movie Academy Scolds Brett Ratner for Gay Slur: "It Will Not Happen Again"

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report Ratner's resignation.

"He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself," Academy president Tom Sherak said in a statement. "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."

Ratner came under fire from GLAAD this week for using a gay slur during a Tower Heist Q&A over the weekend. He's also been blasted for a sexually crass chat he had during an appearance yesterday on Howard Stern's radio show.

It's still unclear if Eddie Murphy will stay on as host. His rep didn't not immediately comment for this story.


Read more: http://www.eonline.com/news/marc_malkin ... z1dAI6Dp6m

[The Original BJ]

I think Mark Harris put it very succinctly.


Why the Academy Should Fire Brett Ratner

Mark Harris

Earlier today, New York magazine’s entertainment site Vulture reported that at a Los Angeles Q&A after a screening of Tower Heist, the film’s director Brett Ratner dismissed a question about his process by saying, “Rehearsing is for fags.” Since Ratner has been signed to produce this year’s Oscars, I would say he has a problem. There are many public responses that can follow an incident like this: The Sincere Apology, The Twelve-Step Apology (“My intemperate remarks have led me to understand that I need to seek treatment for...”), the Non-Apology Apology (“I’m sorry if my choice of words offended...”), the Can’t-You-Take-A-Joke Apology (“All my gay friends know that I don’t use P.C. language...”) or the Sidestep Apology (“I didn’t mean anything homophobic, I was just using ‘fags’ to mean, you know, losers!”).

I wondered which one of these approaches Ratner would take. Turns out it was a little bit of all of them. He told The Wrap: “I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. [Not that they’re by definition offensive, just that somebody MIGHT have been offended.] It was a dumb and outdated way of expressing myself. [Not prejudiced, just “dumb.” Not homophobic, just “outdated.”] Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. [Some of my best friends are fa—uh, homos, uh, sexuals.] But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words. [I’m a storyteller!]"

I’ve had to listen to versions of every one of these mea-not-quite-culpas over the years and seriously, I’m no longer interested in patiently witnessing the slow arc of a public figure’s learning curve. What I do care about is what the Academy does, which should be either to ask for and receive his resignation from the show or to drop him as the producer of a show that is supposed to represent the best the industry has to offer. There’s not really a long, nuanced debate to be had about this. If he had used an equivalent racial or religious slur, the discussion would go something like, “You’re fired.” Apology or not. The same rule applies here. You don’t get a mulligan on homophobia. Not in 2011.

Mark Harris is the author of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood and is currently at work on his next book. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkHarrisNYC.

[Dien]

I just did a wikipedia search on the guy for fun. Now, I knew his movies stink, but I didn't realize he was a prolific shitty-music video director too. Even McG has a few good music videos. Hmm... are David Fincher and Spike Jonze the only music video directors with a respectable career?

[Big Magilla]

The apology may be sincere, who knows, but this is just one more reason why the guy should not have been hired in the first place. The comment was made in response to a quesiton about rehearsing for the Oscars. It makes no sense. It would be one thing if all the presenters were expected to ad lib, but when they are expected to read a telepromptor, how many A-list stars want to do that cold and risk embarrassing themselves in front of a world-wide audience?

The "comedy" writers he's hired for the show are the same dimwits who wrote his flop films for him. They should not only fire Rattner, they should fire Tom Sherak, the current AMPAS president and equally lamebrained producer who hired him and have an emergency election to install a new Academy president and start over with this year's planning. Of course we know that's not going to happen.

Next up: Adding a laugh track to the In Memoriam segment.

[OscarGuy]

For those who haven't already heard, at a Q&A for his new film Tower Heist, Ratner commented that "rehearsing is for fags". Although he "apologized" for that remarks (he said on Twitter "It was a dumb way of expressing myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words."), there is growing dissent among the gay community and among Oscar fans who decry the comment and his non-apology. There are calls for the Academy to replace him as producer of this year's Oscar telecast. Irvin sent me a Change.org petition asking this of the Academy.

I doubt the Academy will acquiesce, but wouldn't it be a great thing if they did? They need to stand up for the power of words as Ratner said in his "apology" and refuse to accept bigotry outwardly displayed by those who will represent them.

What are your thoughts?