Movie Director Dumped from Oscars Show for Gay F-Bomb

November 9th, 2011 11:52 AM

The New York Post reports hotshot movie director Brett Ratner was "abruptly dumped as director of next year’s Oscar broadcast after making bizarre remarks including, 'Rehearsal is for fags.'” The New York Times added that Ratner was then required to write a deeply confessional apology letter as he resigned.

“He did the right thing, and they did the right thing,” Rob Epstein, a member of the academy’s governing board and a director of  the documentary The Celluloid Closet said about Ratner and the Academy on Tuesday. “I’m proud to be associated with a group that made the right call.” Now, there’s the obligatory tour with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD):

"When we sat down with Brett today, he seemed very sincere in his desire to use this experience as a way to begin speaking out against anti-gay language in popular culture," said Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs and Communications at GLAAD. "We believe his resignation is just the first step and will be announcing a series of concrete actions with Brett in coming days and weeks."

"Hollywood has the power and responsibility to grow acceptance of all communities," said GLAAD Acting President Mike Thompson. "We look forward to working with Brett and the industry in promoting positive, culture-changing images of our community and sending a message that such slurs, used to belittle gay and lesbian youth and adults every day, have no place in mainstream popular culture or the industry that creates it."

Here’s how Ratner’s Act of Contrition (Glory to GLAAD in the Highest?) letter ended:

As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments. And they pale in comparison to what any gay, lesbian, or transgender individual must deal with as they confront the many inequalities that continue to plague our world.

So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn't count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I've so foolishly perpetuated.

As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents.

I am grateful to GLAAD for engaging me in a dialogue about what we can do together to increase awareness of the important and troubling issues this episode has raised and I look forward to working with them. I am incredibly lucky to have a career in this business that I love with all of my heart and to be able to work alongside so many of my heroes. I deeply regret my actions and I am determined to learn from this experience.

The Post piece concluded:

“Tower Heist” helmer Ratner infuriated Hollywood with the gay slur when asked about his rehearsal process at a Q&A Friday at the ArcLight in LA. The same day, he went on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show and got carried away in a raunchy discussion about sex, saying he sends women he sleeps with to his doctor to be checked for diseases. His publicists at Rubenstein p.r. last night confirmed to Page Six they’re no longer working with Ratner “because of artistic differences.” Reps for “Tower Heist” star Eddie Murphy, whom Ratner recruited to host the Feb. 26 awards, did not get back to us. The Academy said in a statement: “[Ratner] did the right thing for the Academy [by resigning]...Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable.”