‘Ghostbusters’ Screws Ernie Hudson Over… Again

Ghostbusters essentially jipped Ernie Hudson in the 80s by not including him on the original poster. In 2016, they’re doing it again with a blu-ray release.

Poor Winston Zeddmore can’t seem to get a break.

Despite everybody knowing the original Ghostbusters as a four-man group, Winston was nowhere to be seen on the original poster of the film.

Not even the actor’s name— Ernie Hudson— was listed in the credits at the bottom with everyone else’s. If you hadn’t seen the movie, you’d have no idea there were four Ghostbusters.

Here, check it out so you can see what I’m talking about:

Ghostbusters: The story of 3 professors who save the world without any help from anyone else.

Who knows why Winston got the shaft on the cover. It could be that studio heads didn’t think he was famous enough, lest they risk scaring audiences away by showing them an actor they weren’t familiar with yet.

Or maybe there, were, uh, other reasons involved, depending on the personal beliefs of the people in charge of the marketing of the film (which I won’t get into here).

Whatever the case, Hudson got screwed. But that probably wasn’t too surprising for the Oz actor himself, who revealed that the Winston character had a much bigger role in the story when he first signed on. Here’s what he said in an article he wrote for EW:

"“The character was gone. Instead of coming in at the very beginning of the movie, like page 8, the character came in on page 68 after the Ghostbusters were established. His elaborate background was all gone, replaced by me walking in and saying, ‘If there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.’ So that was pretty devastating.”"

Hudson went on to detail how Winston wasn’t included in the trailer, poster, or any of the promotional materials for the film, which didn’t make sense as the fans see the Ghostbusters as four characters. He’s right— it’s basically insulting the intelligence of the actual fans of the movie.

But, whatever. It’s all history, right? Surely they wouldn’t jip Winston again, now that everyone knows he’s in the film and Hudson has publicly acknowledged his disappointment in being omitted. They’ll make it right with this summer’s new blu-ray release, won’t they?

Wrong.

Take a look at the covers for the new blu-ray releases for the Ghostbusters films below, and notice how Hudson’s name and face are omitted from the Ghostbusters cover:

That’s right. Ernie Hudson was screwed again. If you look closely, it seems that they did stuff him in underneath the Ghostbusters logo, which is totally cutting off his face. That doesn’t count, guys. In fact, it’s even more insulting.

At least someone slid him into the side of the Ghostbusters II cover, although it was probably done with a loud sigh.

Next: Freddy Krueger Actor Joins 'The Dark Tower'

What do you guys think? Should Ernie Hudson be included on the cover art for new Ghostbusters re-releases? Why do you think he was omitted in the first place? Let’s keep the discussion going below.