Brett Ratner Gets GLAAD's Seal of Approval

Esther Zuckerman

Brett Ratner's gay slur cost him the a shot of producing the Oscars, but now that he's been certified homophobia free by GLAAD, he can perhaps rest easy knowing that Seth MacFarlane will be the name most often associated with offensiveness and the Oscars. Yes, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Ratner is going to receive GLAAD's "inaugural Ally Award." 

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If you don't remember the incidents of late 2011, here's what happened: Ratner, who had been picked to produce the Oscars, said "rehearsal is for fags" at a Q&A for his movie Tower Heist. The Internet erupted in outrage over the comment, which was complemented by a number of other gross things he said, and before he could be fired, Ratner resigned. 

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GLAAD was involved throughout the entire incident and began Ratner's rehabilitation campaign by teaming with him "to convene a series of public discussions on LGBT images in Hollywood." Ratner since has helmed a PSA campaign for GLAAD, one that FilmDrunk points out "wasn’t even his idea." GLAAD president Hernon Graddick praised Ratner to The Hollywood Reporter on occasion of the award: "Out of anybody I've ever worked with, Brett has been the most humble and willing to put his money and actions where his mouth is." (GLAAD, let us not forget, has gotten in trouble for praising their donors on the corporate level.) 

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During the whole Ratner debacle our Richard Lawson wrote that the incident served to "highlight what a weird, ill-matched choice Ratner was in the first place" for the Oscar ceremony, an example of how the Academy was making bad choices in the name of "demo-baiting."  Ratner was replaced by Brian Grazer and the ceremony was fairly same-old same-old with Billy Crystal. And yet this year—after the Academy avoided the Brett Ratner Oscars a year earlier—the Academy basically got the Brett Ratner Oscars that weren't with Seth MacFarlane as host.

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So the Academy now has a ceremony on its hands that's widely regarded as offensive, and Ratner's getting honored for being an ally. What a weird world this is.