Dolemite is his name and being the comeback king is his game!
The winners of the 2020 Golden Raspberry Awards (which are awarded to the worst films and performances of the year) were announced earlier this week. Cats understandably took home the most awards (6), but it was Eddie Murphy who got the most esteemed honor of the night: the Razzie Redeemer Award, for his portrayal of Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name.
The 58-year-old actor has had a longtime history with Razzies, racking up awards for films such as Harlem Nights, Norbit and Meet Dave. He even won the Worst Actor of the Decade award in 2010.
However, Dolemite has been a special moment for Murphy, with the 58-year-old actor racking up significant critical acclaim, similar to the acclaim he received when he co-starred in 2006’s Dreamgirls.
During my tenure as The Root’s entertainment writer, I have now attended just about every major awards show as press, including the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, and the Golden Globes. The only thing keeping me from my press attendance version of the “EGOT” is that I haven’t covered the Tony Awards in person—yet. However, these elite award shows tend to get a bit stuffy, so it’s always fun to break that up a bit with an award show that doesn’t really take itself too seriously (the Film Independent Spirit Awards is good for this!)
As such, I’ve always wanted to attend the Razzies ceremony, just for the fun of it. I even applied for credentials this year. Of course, along with everything else in this industry the 2020 Razzies ceremony has been canceled due to the public health crisis of the novel coronavirus strain. This phenomenon, in my opinion, is also known as the real “cancel culture.” Not the one people made up because they’re finally being taken to task for shitty behavior and are mostly still thriving in their careers (in some cases, it’s heightened their careers). But, I digress.
Point is, I was looking forward to seeing the celebrities who, again, don’t take themselves too seriously, go onstage and give a hilarious and humbling speech. After all, the very idea of celebrity is wrapped in narcissism, so they’re pleased to have any attention directed toward them.
“This past weekend the Razzies had planned a really humongous show—complete with an opening parody number, sketches, ‘Celebrity Presenters’ and the Whole Balla Wax—eventually to be beamed out to the entire world. But due to unforeseen circumstances — otherwise known as the coronavirus — we are instead bringing the public a bit more intimate video, suitable for viewing by any audience currently in lock-down mode,” ceremony organizers told Billboard.
The complete list of winners for the 40th Razzies Awards is available to view at razzies.com.