the razzie awards

The Razzies Take Back Bruce Willis’s Award Following Public Aphasia Diagnosis

Photo: Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images

The Razzies have decided to rescind their award to Bruce Willis following his family’s announcement on March 30 that he would be stepping away from his acting career due to aphasia. The condition affects speech and language comprehension. Willis was given his own category at the awards ceremony on March 25, Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie, with the eight titles he starred in throughout the year. He “won” for Cosmic Sin. “If someone’s medical condition is a factor in their decision making and/or their performance, we acknowledge it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie,” co-founders John J.B. Wilson and Mo Murphy said in a statement March 31.

The Razzies also rescinded a Worst Actress nomination for Shelley Duvall, who played shell-shocked mother Wendy Torrance in The Shining. In a February Vulture interview, the founders expressed regret over Duvall’s 1981 nomination in response to Kubrick’s treatment toward her on set. “Knowing the backstory and the way that Stanley Kubrick kind of pulverized her, I would take that back,” Murphy said at the time. Duvall filmed a Guinness World Record–breaking 127 takes for The Shining’s baseball scene. She told Roger Ebert in 1980 that working with Kubrick was “almost unbearable.” “We have since discovered that Duvall’s performance was impacted by Stanley Kubrick’s treatment of her throughout the production,” the Razzies said in their statement. “We would like to take this opportunity to rescind that nomination as well.”

Razzies Take Back ‘Worst Performance by Bruce Willis’ Award