UPDATE: He's gone. (H/t to TC)
Great piece by Patrick Goldstein in the LA Times:
If the cloistered elders at the motion picture academy were shocked, surprised, appalled or dismayed to discover that Brett Ratner said that “rehearsal is for f*gs” in a Q&A session after a screening of his new film, “Tower Heist,” well, it just goes to show how little due diligence they did before they hired Ratner to produce next year's Oscars.Yeah, like when my nephew, who was in college at the time, told me he never edits his papers. They're always much better when he waited until the last minute and wrote them really fast, all in one fell swoop. Uh huh. Kids are so cute. When they become adults and still think this way, not so much.
Ratner's remark, made in response to a question about his creative process, was actually, in terms of self-inflicted wounds, a two-for-one deal. Ratner not only embarrassed the academy by insulting legions of gay people (who are perhaps the Oscars’ last remaining loyal demographic), but he also made himself look like even more of an artistic featherweight by making it clear that he views the hard work and preparation that most filmmakers put into their craft -- i.e. rehearsal time -- as being for chumps, not fast-talking smoothies like himself.
