For those who haven’t already heard, at a Q&A for his new film Tower Heist, Ratner commented that “rehearsing is for fags”. Although he “apologized” for that remarks (he said on Twitter “It was a dumb way of expressing myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words.”), there is growing dissent among the gay community and among Oscar fans who decry the comment and his non-apology. There are calls for the Academy to replace him as producer of this year’s Oscar telecast. One of my forum posters even sent me a Facebook invitation for a Change.org petition asking this of the Academy.

I doubt the Academy will acquiesce, but wouldn’t it be a great thing if they did? They need to stand up for the power of words as Ratner said in his “apology” and refuse to accept bigotry outwardly displayed by those who will represent them.

What are your thoughts?