What Are the Golden Raspberry Award

The Golden Raspberry Awards are also known as Razzies or Razzie Awards. It is a parody award show that honors the worst cinematic achievements. It was co-founded by Mo Murphy and John J. B Wilson who were UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans. The annual satirical Razzie Awards predated its coveted Oscars by four decades. The term Raspberry is used in its irreverent sense such as blowing a raspberry. 

The figure of the Raspberry Award is of a golf ball-sized raspberry that is on a shattered reel of gold spray-painted Super 8mm film. The estimated value of this award is $4.97. The Golden Raspberry Foundation encourages well-known filmmakers and prominent artists to recognize their evil. 

What Are the Golden Raspberry Award

The first Golden Raspberry Award ceremony was held on March 31, 1981, in John J.B. Wilson’s living room in Hollywood. It was to honor the worst perceived movies of the 1980 film season. To date, Sylvester Stallone is the most awarded actor with 10 awards while Madonna stands second with the most awarded actress with 9 awards. 

History

Golden Raspberry Award

American publicist John J. B. Wilson used to throw parties at his Hollywood home on Oscar night. In 1981, after the 53rd Academy Awards for the evening, Wilson invited his friends to give random awards in his living room. Wilson decided to hold the event after seeing a 99-cent double feature from Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu. The participants were given a ballot to vote for the worst. 

Wilson stood on a cardboard podium wearing a clingy tuxedo. The foam ball was attached to a broomstick for a dummy microphone. He announced that Can’t Stop the Music was the inaugural Golden Raspberry Award winner for the worst picture. The impromptu ceremony was a success because the following week, some local newspapers took out the press release about this event. They mentioned it with a headline in the Los Angeles Daily News as Take These Envelopes, Please. 

The inaugural Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was attended by about three dozen people. In the second ceremony, the attendance double and it increased as it continued. By the 4th Golden Raspberry Awards, the ceremony was covered by CNN and two major cable services. 

Wilson told BBC that it was impossible to compete with Oscars on the Oscar night but if it was done the day before, the press would be there and looking for something to cover, the Golden Raspberry Awards could catch a big audience. 

Format 

Raspberry Award

Members of the Golden Raspberry Award Organization were originally made up of highly opinionated filmmakers and moviegoers from around the world. The recipients are determined from the vote. The voting members of the Golden Raspberry Award come from all of the 50 U.S. states and continents, except for Antarctica. 

The ceremony is modeled after the Academy Awards but it is done with the deliberate intention of being bad in taste and low level.

Recipients Who Have Accepted Their Award

Sandra Bullock

Recipients who accepted their Golden Raspberry Award are:

  • Tom Green as Worst Actor/Worst Director 
  • Halle Berry as Worst Actress 
  • Sandra Bullock as Worst Actress 
  • Michael Ferris as Worst Screenplay
  • J. D. Shapiro as Worst Screenplay
  • Paul Verhoeven as Worst Director 
  • Alan Menken, eight-time Oscar winner, as Worst Original Song
  • Dinesh D’Souza as Worst Actor/Worst Director 
  • Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca as producers of Fifty Shades of Gray Producers 
  • Dwayne The Rock Johnson as The Razzie Nominee So Rotten You Loved It

Contenders for Best And Worst

There are several movie stars, singers, directors, producers, etc. who got a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Awards but at the same time, they got nominated and won the award for being the best. 

Oscar And Razzie

Academy Award Trophy

Three people won both Oscars and Razzies on the same weekend. Alan Menken in 1993, Brian Helgeland in 1997, and Sandra Bullock in 2010. Each of them won for two different movies in the same year such as Helgeland won both Oscar and Razzie for L.A. Confidential and The Postman. 

Three actors starred in the same movie and earned the Oscar and Razzie nominations such as James Coco for Only When I Laugh, Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy, and Amy Irving for Yentl. 

Aerosmith’s song I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing was a soundtrack for the 1988 film Armageddon. It was nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Original Song. On the other hand, it was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song. 

How Do I Live by Trisha Yearwood from the 1997 movie Con Air and Tony Bennett’s song Life In a Looking Glass from the 1986 movie That’s Life was nominated for both Oscar and Golden Raspberry Awards.

Gena Rowlands was nominated for the Best Actress category at the Oscars. It was for her role in the John Cassavetes film Gloria. Her co-star John Adames won the award for the Worst Supporting Actor alongside Laurence Olivier as co-winner in the remake of the 1927 film named Jazz Singer. 

To date, Wall Street of 1987 is the only film to win both Razzie and Oscar awards. Michael Douglas won the Oscar award for Best Actor, whereas, Daryl Hannah won the Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actress. 

Lone Ranger of Disney might have been able to win one Razzie Award for Worst Remake because of its five nominations. On the other hand, it was nominated for two Oscar Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hairstyle. 

Flashdance, a romantic dance film of 1983 was nominated for a Razzie Award for the Worst Screenplay. On the other hand, it won one of the three Oscar Nominations for the Best Original Song, What A Feeling by Irene Cara. 

The Bodyguard of 1992 was a critical failure that made it win seven Razzie nominations. It was a huge box office success and its multi-platinum soundtrack album eclipsed the film and won two nominations for Best Original Song.

Joker (2019) was the most nominated film for the 92nd Academy Awards. It had 11 nominations of Oscar for Best Picture. In the end, it won two including the nomination for Best Actor. 

Razzie Award Categories

Razzie Award Categories

The Categories of the Razzie Awards is as follows: 

  • Worst Picture 
  • Worst Director
  • Worst Actor 
  • Worst Actress 
  • Worst Supporting Actor
  • Worst Supporting Actress 
  • Worst Screenplay
  • Worst Remake, Prequel, Sequel, or Rip-Off
  • The Razzie Redeemer Award

Retired (Image)

  • Worst Original Song
  • Worst New Star 
  • Worst Musical Score 
  • Worst Screen Couple 
  • Worst Visual Effects 
  • Worst Screen Couple
  • Worst Screen Ensemble

Special Categories 

The Razzie Dancers

  • Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million
  • Worst Reckless Disregard for Public Property and Human Life 
  • Worst Movie Trends of the Year 
  • Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie 
  • Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie 
  • Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment 
  • Most Tiresome Tabloid Targets 
  • Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie 
  • Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D
  • The Razzie Nominee So Rotten You Loved It

Ceremonies 

Ceremonies

Starting from 1980, it was the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony that continued with increasing guests over time. The last ceremony was held in 2020 as the 41st Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony. 

The Gold Raspberry Awards – Awards For Worst Nominations

Golden Raspberry Awards started to own the worst. It has been 40 years since its first ceremony was held in the living room of John J. B. Wilson. It was not gaining that popularity or number of guests, so Wilson held it a day before the Academy Awards ceremony. As a result, it got covered by CNN and two other major cable services. 

The top winner of the Golden Raspberry Award is Sylvester Stallone. To your surprise, the other same stars, singers, directors, producers, etc. were nominated for one of the Worst Award categories but they won the Best Award in Academy Awards Ceremony.