LeBron James and the Princess Diana Musical Clean Up Royally at the Razzies
But the organization rescinds an award given to Bruce Willis, after the actor's family revealed he has aphasia.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Space Jam: A New Legacy and star LeBron James won big at the Razzies.
The Academy Awards, celebrating the best in movies, are Sunday, but on Saturday, the worst of movies was honored at the Golden Raspberry Awards, aka the Razzies. It was a royal night, with a musical about Princess Diana and a comedy starring LeBron "King James" James, scooping up plenty of the unwanted awards.
Diana: The Musical, based on the life of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, won a number of awards, including worst picture, for what the awards called "the all-singing, all-dancing, all-awful Diana: The Musical." Jeanna De Waal, who plays Diana, won for worst actress, and director Christopher Ashley won for worst director. Actress Judy Kaye, who plays Queen Elizabeth II and author Barbara Cartland, Diana's step-grandmother, won for worst supporting actress. The film also won for worst screenplay.
Basketball star LeBron James, who stars with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters in Space Jam: A New Legacy, won worst actor, with the awards ceremony citing Gizmodo calling his performance "one huge airball." James and "any (Warner Bros.) product" won for worst screen couple, and Space Jam: A New Legacy won for the year's worst remake, rip-off or sequel.
Jared Leto won the worst supporting actor award for his role in House of Gucci.
Two actors who later made big news also received awards. Will Smith received the Razzie Redeemer award for going from Razzie-worthy performances to his Oscar-nominated role as Richard Williams, father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard. (Smith later was the talk of the Oscars, not only for winning best actor, but also for hitting comedian Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.)
The Razzies created a special category for worst performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 movie and awarded it to Willis for Cosmic Sin. But then after Willis' family announced he was retiring from acting due to the communication disorder aphasia, the Razzies group rescinded the award.
"If someone's medical condition is a factor in their decision-making and/or their performance, we acknowledge that it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie," the group said in a statement.
The Razzies also formally withdrew another nomination, given in 1980 to Shelley Duvall for her role in The Shining. Maureen Murphy, one of the founders of the Razzies, said in an interview that she regretted Duvall's nomination due to how she was treated by director Stanley Kubrick.
"We have since discovered that Duvall's performance was impacted by Stanley Kubrick's treatment of her throughout the production," the Razzies co-founders said, according to CBS. "We would like to take this opportunity to rescind her 1980 nomination as well."
