Sorry, Brett Ratner, apology for gay slur doesn't cut it By Courtney Hazlett
By now most everyone's heard that after a Nov. 4 screening "Tower Heist" at L.A.'s Arclight Cinemas, director Brett Ratner came out for a Q&A, and when asked by the moderator whether he prepares and rehearses with his actors before shooting a scene, Ratner waved his hand and said, "rehearsal's for fags." New York mag's Vulture blog was among the first to report this, culling sources and Twitter feeds, and by the end of the day Monday, the story had gone viral and Ratner issued an apology.
He told The Wrap, “I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. 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.” Forget for a moment that Ratner just recently said that he "banged" Olivia Munn, but "she wasn't Asian back then" -- something he later said he lied about, and then apologized for. Even without that context, the notion that you can still be colossally dumb, to use Ratner's own word, not to mention outrageously insensitive, and be able to "I'm sorry" it away and STILL PRODUCE THE OSCARS is mystifying. As Marc Harris so eloquently wrote in his blog, "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." For as silly as the Oscars can seem at times, it's still a show that's meant to represent the best that the film industry has to offer. Ratner in no way fits that bill. The Academy issued a response to the apology, saying "Brett made a very inappropriate remark, a remark that goes against our most important beliefs and the beliefs of the creative community we represent. He very quickly issued an apology because he knew he had made a mistake." Really, the only response the Academy needed to make was one in which Ratner was relieved of his duties and left to be a lout on his own time.
THE TOWER HEIST is going to plummet!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Brett Ratner, apology for gay slur doesn't cut it
By Courtney Hazlett
By now most everyone's heard that after a Nov. 4 screening "Tower Heist" at L.A.'s Arclight Cinemas, director Brett Ratner came out for a Q&A, and when asked by the moderator whether he prepares and rehearses with his actors before shooting a scene, Ratner waved his hand and said, "rehearsal's for fags." New York mag's Vulture blog was among the first to report this, culling sources and Twitter feeds, and by the end of the day Monday, the story had gone viral and Ratner issued an apology.
He told The Wrap, “I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. 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.”
Forget for a moment that Ratner just recently said that he "banged" Olivia Munn, but "she wasn't Asian back then" -- something he later said he lied about, and then apologized for. Even without that context, the notion that you can still be colossally dumb, to use Ratner's own word, not to mention outrageously insensitive, and be able to "I'm sorry" it away and STILL PRODUCE THE OSCARS is mystifying. As Marc Harris so eloquently wrote in his blog, "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."
For as silly as the Oscars can seem at times, it's still a show that's meant to represent the best that the film industry has to offer. Ratner in no way fits that bill. The Academy issued a response to the apology, saying "Brett made a very inappropriate remark, a remark that goes against our most important beliefs and the beliefs of the creative community we represent. He very quickly issued an apology because he knew he had made a mistake." Really, the only response the Academy needed to make was one in which Ratner was relieved of his duties and left to be a lout on his own time.
Clearly, it has hit the ground plummeting as it were.
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