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Nerdist was started by Chris Hardwick and has grown to be a many headed beast.

Winston Zeddemore Is THE Ghostbuster

by on February 9, 2009

I know, I know. You’re mad. BUT HEAR ME OUT. This is a “what if” scenario.” Of course, “Yes it’s true…this man has no dick” will always have a mansion in my heart, but after all this Ghostbuster game talk I went back and watched the film’s original trailer on the youtubes. I couldn’t help but notice that the whole bloody cast is mentioned EXCEPT for Ernie Hudson. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one:

I’m always a little disturbed that Ernie Hudson is treated as a non-entity.
-gigi

Ernie Hudson SHOULD of been mentioned in the trailer! He is a effin Ghostbuster also!
-Doomguy13

…you can’t even SEE ernie hudson in the dark scenes due to old film technology and bad lighting… winston!!!!!!!!!
-chrisallen


Sure, he wasn’t super-famous and Winston Zeddmore comes in halfway through the movie but he’s still a Ghostbuster for crapsake! Well, now he’s THE Ghostbuster. Feel fortified with emotional vitamins and minerals, Nerdist clan, because your cries of “Foul” have been heard! Ask and ye shall receive, that’s the credo here at The Nerdist! Unless I don’t feel like doing it. That’s also part of the credo. But I really felt like doing this one. The following trailer supposes that Zeddemore is the central character in a more-intense-supernatural-thriller-version of the movie. Thanks to editor extraordinaire Jacob Strunk at Shotgun Digital for helping me realize this nerdly dream. Sure, I have Final Cut. I just suck at it.

Now be responsible geek citizens and spread this long overdue message of justice! This is for you, Ernie!!!

 
23 comments read them below or add one

  1. They do that all the time with ensemble casts in movies. I don’t know of any other examples off the top of my head, but that’s because I’m an idiot and not because they aren’t out there.

    Put me down for some righteous support. I am always pulling for the little guy who get’s left out, such is the story of the average Nerdist I would think. I feel the pain, and I acknowledge it and move on.

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I would have never thought about it since it was almost 25 years ago now. All of my brain cells are being used up remembering stupid shit like, THACO, Saving Throws and how to masturbate without being caught on the city bus. Those things take up some serious space in the brain.

    Michael

  3. I always wondered why he came half-way into the movie in the first place… Was it really 25 years ago? Oh my God, I was 2! And I still love that movie, I guess that makes me a geek! Cool!

    Love the trailer!

  5. How sad is it that you took almost all of his dialog from the film and made a clip that barely lasts 50 seconds. Ha!

  7. An internet friend of mine pointed out Ernie’s lack of recognition a couple years ago, citing that he wasn’t even on the COVER ART for the second movie. In some twist of fate, he later met Ernie on the set of some TV show (my friend was an extra and Ernie was a guest star that episode). He got up the nerve to go talk to Mr. Hudson and asked him about the unfair credits. To my friend’s surprise, Ernie said he wasn’t upset about it and looked at it in a completely different manner – the “ghostbusters” were the scientists who did all the legwork and understood it all, whereas Winston was just the hired help; he’d believe anything if there was a steady paycheck in it.

    Despite Mr. Hudson’s own remarks on the topic, I still believe it was a bad decision to keep his name out of the top credits and his image from the cover art. The movies and the cartoons made the Ghostbusters a team of 4 proton-pack wielding guys, it didn’t matter to us if Zeddemore didn’t have a phd in a supernatural science.

  8. He’s featured prominently in comics, particularly in this iPhone formatted GHOSTBUSTERS comic book; App Store search “Ghostbusters: The Other Side Issues 1 (of 4).

  9. Props to E.H.! I also appreciated his fine work in “Airheads”. (No sarcasm, I love that silly movie.)

  10. Reminds me of that SNL sketch with Mary Gross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

    “I like the black one!”

    “The black one? He didn’t do nothing!”

  11. I met Ernie Hudson at a con, & he’s a super-nice guy. He’s my favorite Ghostbuster!

  12. He IS the Ghostbuster. He’s got two of the very most quoted lines: “That’s a big twinkie.” AND “When someone asks if you’re a god, you say YES!”

  15. Here’s the question I have (a little off topic). How come Bill Murray has like .01% of his body covered in marshmallow when everyone else is COMPLETELY covered? Did he have a “diva moment” and not allow crew to cover him? I always wondered at that. (Sad & pathetic, I know)

  16. Last Year I attended a Comic Con featuring Ernie Hudson as a Special Guest. While he was a very kind gentlemen when I met him I ran into an awkward situation in the line-up while waiting for his autograph.

    There was a German dude standing infront of me speaking to Ernie Hudson about how big of a fan he was and the impact of Ghostbusters in Europe. He then went on to say,”In Europe
    we didn’t know who you were because they never put your ne
    on the posters. Your name isn’t even on this DVD box (it was
    recently released Ghostbuster bundle). Why is that? You were one of the Ghostbusters” There was a long pause before Mr. Hudson answered he sortof had a “Is this guy fuckin’ serious” grin on his face. He then replied ” You know, I think those cats must of had better agents than me”.

    While I’m sure the fellow didn’t have any intention of offending Mr. Hudson I’m sure there is a tinge of annoyance
    in hearing that and rightfully so. Rick Moranis gets
    more billing in ads for his Louis character than Ernie does for
    Winston. In the end though, Mr. Hudson got the last laugh because
    he ended up charging the fan for every single item he
    signed as well as picture which totalled to $150. When I came up next Mr. Hudson didn’t charge me for a picture and told me I can thank that last guy.

  17. he was the “black guy” and not a big star like Murray or Ackroyd, nor did he write the movie like Ramis. I’ve always found it ignorant that he wasn’t included as much as the other guys, but if you take him out of the movie, then the movie would have not been what it was. he helped make Ghostbusters what it is, and is a huge part of the franchise. I’ve enjoyed more movies with him in the cast than I have any other Murray, Ackroyd or Ramis film.
    Hudson is the bees knees. there are bees buzzing about right now who cannot kneel because of Ernie.

  18. He was completely downplayed in Ghostbusters, and not just the movies, he doesn’t appear in any of the game ads either. Back when Blaxploitation films were still being made, the entire industry was still dominated by segregation, and stereotypical typecasting. But Ernie Hudson is awesome, and it’s evidenced by the people. We all know who he is, we all know his lines, and we’d all pay for his autograph.

    And regardless of the injustice of the Ghostbusters franchise. Ernie’s greatest role IMHO, was Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow. “At least he didn’t do that walking against the wind shit. I hate that shit.”

  19. Yeah, it’s cool that Ernie Hudson in general doesn’t let it get to him but it does suck. I even understand him not getting big billing in the first movie, because he does come in halfway through and is sort of seen as the hired help, even though he then steals scenes with lines like “I love Jesus’ style” and the “You tell them YES!” line which is my second favorite line in the franchise, behind “We had part of a slinky. (pause) I straightened it.”

    But in Part 2, Winston is just as much an active part of the team as everyone else, he’s the one doing birthday parties with Ray, he’s the one who is there discussing the twinkie stuff, and most importantly, he, not Peter, goes down into the subway tunnels with Egon and Ray, ends up getting covered in slime, after standing in the path of a ghost train, with another great line “Sorry, I missed it.”

    Hopefully with the third movie he’ll finally get some credit where it is due. And thank God for OZ on HBO which really gave Hudson a place to shine.

  20. I think we like him because he is “US” He says what we would say in that situation. We are not all PHD’s We don’t want to flip the burgers we do it because we get the discount. He is ONE of the most important parts of the movie. Without him the movie wouldn’t be grounded in a reality that we could grasp. Thank god for Zeddmore. BTW look at this guy hold his own with 5 top stars of the day.

  21. That was great!! It made my day, thank you.

    I can understand him not getting much attention for the first film, but there’s no excuse for the second one. He definitely got more screen time for the sequel.

  22. I never thought the Ernie Hudson character made sense anyway. It always felt tacked-on. With the exception of a moral-support scene and an out-of-place Jesus reference, there was really nothing to his character.

    Perhaps like the Harold Ramis/Annie Potts love affair, the body of Ernie’s work lie on the cutting room floor. But I feel it would have been a better movie without him. Nothing against him, he just added nothing to the movie… in a really obvious way.

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