The Razzies has offered a public apology to Firestarter star Ryan Kiera Armstrong following their controversial and deeply unsettling decision to nominate the 12-year-old actress for the so-called Worst Actress award. Amid major backlash over the grossly inappropriate nomination, the head of the group behind the Golden Raspberry Awards, John Wilson, issued the following apology.

Sometimes, you do things without thinking, Then you are called out for it. Then you get it. It’s why the Razzies were created in the first place.

The recent valid criticism of the choice of 11 year old Armstrong as a nominee for one of our awards brought our attention to how insensitive we’ve been in this instance. As a result, we have removed Armstrong’s name from the Final Ballot that our members will cast next month. We also believe a public apology is owed Ms. Armstrong, and wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices.

Having learned from this lesson, we would also like to announce that, from this point forward, we are adopting a Voting Guideline precluding any performer or film-maker under 18 years of age from being considered for our awards.

We have never intended to bury anyone’s career. It is why our Redeemer Award was created. We all make mistakes, very much us included.

Since our motto is “Own Your Bad,” we realize that we ourselves must also live up to it.

Sincerely,

John Wilson, The Razzie Awards

Explaining that “sometimes, you do things without thinking,” not only has the Razzie Awards now removed Armstong’s name from the upcoming award nominations list, but they have also now instated a rule that will mean no one under the age of 18 will ever be considered for any Razzie awards. This is not the first time that The Razzie Awards have been met with criticism and unnecessarily put child actors in the firing line, having nominated both Jake Lloyd for his performance in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Macaulay Culkin for Getting Even with Dad, The Pagemaster, and Richie Rich.

While the Razzies could be the humorous, fun-poking movie awards event, the show's mean-spirited nature seems to rear its head far too often. But at least children will be left out of it from now on.

RELATED: Is It Time to Retire The Razzie Awards?

Ryan Kiera Armstrong Recently Starred in a Western with Nicolas Cage

TheOldWay
Lionsgate

Despite the criticisms of last year’s remake of the Stephen King novel, Firestarter, many felt that Ryan Kiera Armstrong was by far the best thing in it. Starring alongside Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben, finds the young actress starring as a young girl trying to understand and control her mysterious power to set things on fire with her mind.

Armstrong recently starred in the coming-of-age outing Wildflower from directors Matt Smukler and Jana Savage alongside Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Kiernan Shipka and the western The Old Way alongside Hollywood icon Nicolas Cage.

The actress can next be seen in the upcoming thriller, Maternal, which begins when 16-year-old Charlie McLeod is involved in a serious car accident on the way to her father’s wedding, leaving her in a fight for her life. Dying for a brief moment, Charlie reconnects with her deceased mother, who insists she joins her in the afterlife.