US filmmaker Brett Ratner resigned Tuesday as a producer of next year’s Oscars show, after making an ‘unacceptable’ anti-gay slur, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said. Ratner, director of current box office hit ‘Tower Heist’, starring Hollywood veteran Eddie Murphy, who is due to host the Oscars show in February, submitted his resignation to Academy President Tom Sherak.
“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said, adding: “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,” he added, cited in a statement by the Academy. Ratner, a prolific director and producer whose work also includes 2006’s ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, made the offending comment at a discussion about ‘Tower Heist’ last week, in response to a question about how he works.
‘Rehearsal is for fags’, he replied.
The Los Angeles Times commented in a blog: “Ratner not only embarrassed the academy by insulting legions of gay people (who are perhaps the Oscars’ last remaining loyal demographic). He also made himself look like even more of an artistic featherweight by making it clear that he views the hard work and preparation that most filmmakers put into their craft ie rehearsal time as being for chumps, not fast-talking smoothies like himself.” Next year’s Oscars show, the 84th Academy Awards, at which Hollywood’s most coveted prizes, the famous golden statuettes, are handed out, is scheduled for February 26.
