More Hollywood big shots face harassment claims

LOS ANGELES: Blockbuster director Brett Ratner ( pix) and the head of news at US radio station NPR were drawn into Hollywood’s widening sexual misconduct scandal on Wednesday as more women came forward.

Actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn have accused Ratner of sexual harassment, the Los Angeles Times said, as A-lister Kevin Spacey faced fresh accusations over his conduct with young actors.

Henstridge told the Times she was a 19-year-old fashion model in New York in the early 1990s when Ratner, then a music video director in his early 20s, forced her to perform oral sex.

Four other women also recounted stories to the newspaper about sexually inappropriate or intimidating behaviour by 48-year-old Ratner, whose movies including Rush Hour and X-Men: The Last Stand have grossed more than US$2 billion (RM8.5 billion) worldwide.

“He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me,” said Henstridge, who has appeared in the movies Species and The Whole Nine Yards.

“At some point, I gave in and he did his thing,” she said.

Henstridge said she was inspired to come forward by the stories of other women who have reported sexual misconduct by powerful Miramax producer Harvey Weinstein and director James Toback.

Munn, who has appeared in the HBO show The Newsroom and the movie Magic Mike, told the Times that Ratner – who denies the allegations – had masturbated in front of her on the set of the movie 2004 After the Sunset.

The spreading scandal reached the US media business on Wednesday as NPR CEO Jarl Mohn wrote in an email to staff seen by AFP that he had asked Mike Oreskes, senior vice president for news, for his resignation because of “inappropriate behaviour” and the executive had obliged.

Oreskes was placed on leave late Tuesday following allegations in The Washington Post from two women who said they had been harassed in the late 1990s, when Oreskes was Washington bureau chief for The New York Times.

He also has been accused of harassment by an employee at NPR, the station reported on its website.

Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, author Anna Graham Hunter accused Dustin Hoffman – today aged 80 – of sexually harassing her when she was a 17-year-old interning on the set of the Death of a Salesman TV film.

Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos became the latest late Tuesday to accuse House of Cards star Spacey, 58, of sexual harassment, predicting more such claims would emerge as Netflix suspended production of the series.

Cavazos, who acted in plays at London’s Old Vic theatre when Spacey was artistic director from 2004 to 2015, said the Hollywood star routinely preyed on young male actors. – AFP