Six women accuse director Ratner
Graphic allegations include forced sex acts
Six women, including actress Olivia Munn ( X-Men: Apocalypse, The Newsroom) are accusing producer/director Brett Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct in a Los Angeles Times story published Wednesday.
Ratner, 48, is known for directing the Rush Hour franchise as well as 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and
2011’sTower Heist. He also produced The Revenant (2015), for which Leonardo DiCaprio won an Academy Award, in addition to Horrible Bosses and the TV series Prison Break.
The story casts Ratner’s “bad-boy image” in a different light, saying he forced women to engage in sex acts and made unwanted advances on others.
“I’ve made specific, conscientious choices not to work with Brett Ratner,” Munn says. The story described how Ratner masturbated in front of the then-aspiring actress on the set of his
2004 movie After the Sunset.
“It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won’t quit,” she says. “You just hope that enough people believe the truth and for enough time to pass so that you can’t be connected to him anymore.”
Other allegations include The Whole Nine Yards actress Natasha Henstridge’s account of Ratner forcing her to perform oral sex and four people involved in Ratner’s Rush Hour 2 in
2001 who recalled how the director chased young women and established a predatory atmosphere on the set.
Munn had alluded to Ratner’s alleged history of misconduct in her
2010 collection of essays, Suck It, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek. The director accused her of lying.
Ratner’s attorney, Martin Singer, denied the allegations, telling the Times, “I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
Ratner’s representatives did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.