Olivia Munn and 5 Other Women Accuse Brett Ratner of Sexual Harassment and Misconduct
Following the growing number of sexual assault and harassment allegations against numerous powerful men in Hollywood, from Harvey Weinstein to director James Toback to Kevin Spacey, a new name has emerged among the accused. Brett Ratner, best known as the director of the Rush Hour movies and X-Men: The Last Stand, and producer behind The Revenant, Horrible Bosses, and FOX’s Prison Break, is the latest Hollywood figure at the center of numerous stories of sexual harassment and misconduct.
In a new story from the Los Angeles Times, six women, including actress Olivia Munn, come forward with stories about the director-producer allegedly forcing himself on women and making unwanted advances on his film sets and at private parties. The exposé opens with a graphic description of an incident of non-consensual oral sex, as described by actress Natasha Henstridge (Species, The Whole Nine Yards). Ratner’s attorney Martin Singer disputed Henstridge’s allegations and told The Times that the actress was “upset after learning my client had a girlfriend who he would not leave.” Singer also “categorically” disputed all six women’s accounts, telling The Times, “no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.”
Munn told the paper about a 2004 incident when Ratner masturbated in front of her in his trailer. The actress recalls the incident, where she was asked to deliver food to Ratner’s trailer while visiting the set of his film After the Sunset:
He walked out … with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other. And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated.
Munn wrote about the incident in a series of published essays in 2010, though without using Ratner’s name. In 2011 the director identified himself as the unnamed filmmaker though denied the story, claiming he “banged her a few times” and alluding to her Asian ethnicity. Days later, Ratner denied sleeping with Munn on the Howard Stern Show.
The Newsroom actress said she’s run into Ratner since the 2004 trailer incident. At a 2010 party, Munn claims Ratner asked her why she “hated” him, then says he bragged about how he had ejaculated on numerous magazine covers she appeared on. Singer responded to Munn’s allegations saying Munn and Ratner were involved in an “intimate relationship,” which Munn called “a complete lie.” Munn went on to tell the paper, “I’ve made specific, conscientious choices not to work with Brett Ratner. […] I shouldn’t have to be completely broken, battered, and devalued in order to prove that he crossed a line.”
Other women, including actress Katherine Towne and background actresses from Rush Hour 2, allege Ratner made unwanted advances, often with the promise to give them lines or make them famous. Actress Jaime Ray Newman, who appears in Netflix’s upcoming The Punisher, describes a time Ratner switched seats with his assistant to sit next to Newman on a plane in 2005. “He was graphically describing giving me oral sex and how he was addicted to it,” Newman told The Times.
Ratner currently has a handful of projects underway, including his upcoming Hugh Hefner biopic starring Jared Leto. Warner Bros., who currently has a first-look deal with Ratner and his RatPac Entertainment, issued a statement to The Wrap on Wednesday morning saying the studio was aware of the allegations and “reviewing the situation.”
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