The Golden Raspberry Foundation has claimed that the award "encourages well-known filmmakers and top-notch performers to own their bad."

B. Wilson had been seeing a 99-cent double feature of Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu and thought in his drive home that those movies deserved awards for their low quality, and subsequently started thinking of all the other films that disappointed him in 1980, particularly as he had watched hundreds of productions in his job making trailers.

[3][4][1] Wilson stood at a lectern made of cardboard in a tacky tuxedo, with a foam ball attached to a broomstick as a fake microphone, and announced Can't Stop the Music as the first Golden Raspberry Award Winner for Worst Picture.

[1][5] The impromptu ceremony was a success and the following week a press release about his event was picked up by a few local newspapers, including a mention in the Los Angeles Daily News with the headline: "Take These Envelopes, Please".

[5] By the 4th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony, CNN and two major wire services covered the event.

[3] Wilson realized that by scheduling the Golden Raspberry Awards prior to the Academy Awards, the ceremony would get more press coverage: "We finally figured out you couldn't compete with the Oscars on Oscar night, but if you went the night before, when the press from all over the world are here and they are looking for something to do, it could well catch on," he said to BBC News.

[11][12] After three editions held during Wilson's potluck Oscar parties, Wilson realized that by scheduling the Golden Raspberry Awards prior to the Academy Awards, the ceremony would get more press coverage, and the fourth edition happened at Los Angeles' Third Street Elementary School.

[18][19] Three actors have received Oscar and Razzie acting nominations for the same role: James Coco (Only When I Laugh), Amy Irving (Yentl), and Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy).

The Razzie Redeemer Award is presented to a former nominee or winner who has subsequently made a comeback from critical or commercial failure.

Winners include Ben Affleck, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, "A Safe Hollywood-Haven", Melissa McCarthy, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Colin Farrell, and Fran Drescher.

This award has been given five times, to Ronald Reagan in 1981, to Linda Blair in 1983, to Irwin Allen in 1985, to "Bruce the Rubber Shark" from Jaws[25] in 1987, and to director Uwe Boll[26] in 2009 who received this for his achievement as "Germany's answer to Ed Wood".

The Razzies, properly enough, avoid pouncing on the little guy; they don't trash no-budget indies no one has seen for having bad lighting or terrible sound".

[34] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote, however, that "the Razzies' ongoing failure to train its sights on anything but the most obvious targets means it grows more tired and redundant by the year".

"[37] Daniel Cook Johnson of MovieWeb echoed a similar sentiment, writing, "Wilson and Murphy's insulting event may have been a wonderfully snarky and skewering enterprise back in the '80s when there was much less film criticism and audience reactions to recent movies.

"[40] The Razzies have also seen significant criticism from both within the industry and its own voting body for including underage actors and actresses in their ballots and nominations, with many noting the outcome of their careers and later personal and legal issues.