Producer Brett Ratner has resigned as producer of the upcoming Oscars show after coming under fire for using an anti-gay slur in a comment he made over the weekend.

At a screening of his new film Tower Heist, Ratner was taking part in a Q & A session when he was asked about the schedule lead-up for Academy Awards telecast and told the audience “rehearsal is for f**s.”

The 42 year-old issued a public apology:

“Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances,” Ratner’s letter to the Entertainment Industry said. “To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly.”

He continued: “As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments…. So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.”

Academy President Tom Sherark accepted his resignation saying Ratner “did the right thing,” but now the February 2012 program has lost another key talent as well.

Eddie Murphy – the star of Tower Heist – has decided that he will no longer host the show in the wake of the Ratner debacle.

“First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony,” Murphy’s statement began.

“I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I’m sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job.”

With Murphy and Ratner out, the Academy has to start at the beginning and replace both quickly.

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Hosting the Oscars is a tricky job to pull off (see Anne Hathaway, James Franco, David Letterman, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart etc…) but when you do (Billy Crystal)  it’s a real coup. Could Eddie Murphy be the next entertainer to give it a shot?

Murphy’s the name being tossed around to try his hand at the podium with filmmaker Brett Ratner championing the former SNL star.

Ratner is the producer of the upcoming 84th Annual Academy Awards show and has also directed Murphy and Ben Stiller in the Fall release Tower Heist.

The last two Oscars had dual hosts – last year with Hathaway and Franco and the previous year with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin – but a return to a single emcee seems likely since both of the shows have been critically panned.

On Tuesday, Ratner and co-producer Don Mischner will reportedly take the idea to Academy president Tom Sherak for final approval. Besides Murphy, there was talk earlier this year of Billy Crystal possibly reprising his role or perhaps snagging Jerry Seinfeld for the honors.

I gotta admit, I like the idea of Murphy giving it whirl – what about you?

[image: Apega/WENN]

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Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating today, April 3rd, including:

1922 – Doris Day, actress
1934 – Jane Goodall, zoologist
1941 – Eric Braeden, actor
1942 – Marsha Mason, actress
1942 – Wayne Newton, singer
1944 – Tony Orlando, singer
1953 – Sandra Boynton, author
1958 – Alec Baldwin, actor
1959 – David Hyde Pierce, actor
1961 – Eddie Murphy, actor
1968 – Sebastian Bach, singer
1971 – Picabo Street, professional skiier
1972 – Jennie Garth, actress
1982 – Cobie Smulders, actress
1985 – Leona Lewis, singer
1986 – Amanda Bynes, actress

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Here’s the first image from the upcoming sequel Shrek Forever After, the fourth and final installment in the series.

The once-upon-a-time spoofing that began with 2001′s Shrek will conclude when Shrek Forever After, the fourth computer-animated comic adventure starring the hygiene-challenged ogre — and the first in 3-D — arrives May 21. A trailer premieres Dec. 18 at showings of Avatar.

“All that was loved about Shrek in the first film is brought to the final film,” promises Bill Damaschke, head of creative production atDreamWorks. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz are back as the voices of Shrek, sidekick Donkey and ogress wife Fiona.

This movie will obviously be a lot of fun, but I hope it’s better than Shrek the Third. The first two had a certain magic about them that the third one just didn’t pull off. In any case I want to see it.

Source: USA Today

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