Director and Producer Brett Ratner is now the latest in the long line of men to be accused of sexual harassment. The accusation comes from six women, including actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn, according to a report published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.
Martin Singer, the lawyer for Ratner, has released a statement saying that his client denies the accusations: “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.”
This statement is … not good. No woman has ever made a claim or requested financial settlements from him until now. Women are speaking up now, because at no other time in Hollywood history has there been this much support for victims to come forward, knowing they are not alone. Social media and current news coverage have given women an unprecedented voice.
Throughout the years, according to Variety, Ratner has long “cultivated a playboy image” and been very open about being good friends with “Roman Polanski and James Toback, one a convicted rapist and the other accused of serial sexual harassment and assault.” Which is not exactly the best company to be keeping in general, but certainly not now.
The names and accusations of the women have been made public, and it is important to make sure their stories are being told:
Henstridge told the Times that Ratner, 48, allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him during an incident in his New York apartment in the early 1990s when she was a 19-year-old model, according to the report.
Actress Katherine Towne described a meeting with Ratner at a party in 2005 where he allegedly aggressively came on to her and followed her into a bathroom. His assistant called her for months trying to set up a date, Towne told the Times.
Actress Olivia Munn detailed what she described as several disturbing encounters with Ratner. In one instance, she brought food to his trailer during the filming his 2004 film “After the Sunset.” Munn alleges that Ratner emerged from the bathroom wearing no pants and “furiously masturbating.” Munn later sparred with Ratner after he claimed during a 2011 TV appearance to have slept with her. A few days later he apologized for making that statement during an appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show.
Actresses Jamie Ray Newman, Eri Sasaki, and Jorina King also described sexually charged run-ins with Ratner to the Times.
The audacity of Ratner’s actions shows just how much he thought of these actresses as things rather than people. His disturbing antics are especially dangerous because they’ve been supported by money from major studios; at the moment, Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment banner has a $450 million film co-financing pact with Warner Bros. Representatives at Warner Bros. said they are going through the accusations and reviewing the situation.
All I have to say to Ratner, Andy Dick, Harvey Weinstein, and all the other men who think they can use women as sex toys:
(via Variety, image: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com )
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