**Breaking News** Hurt Locker Producer banned from Oscars! **Breaking News**

Just read on the web that producer Nicolas Chartier has been banned from attending the Academy Awards this weekend by the Academy itself, after he was caught sending emails to Oscar judges promoting his film, The Hurt Locker. According to the official Oscar website, Chartier will still recieve an Oscar statuette should Hurt Locker win Best Picture, however, he will be unable to attend the ceremony itself.

Considering the lengths some producers and studios will go to promote their film above all others, and the fact that the Oscars are a pretty politically motivated concept in the first place, makes this ruling seem a little, well, baffling. I guess it was the fact Chartier also made derogatory reference to main competition Avatar’s budget, which he intimated shouldn’t be the reason it wins the main gong, that got him banned.

Chartier later emailed an apology, however, the Academy has now sanctioned him. Apparently, the three other listed producers of the film are unaffected by this, and will attend the ceremony as normal.

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