Harvey 2.0: ‘Rush Hour’ Director Accused Of Raping A-List Actress
Brett Ratner, the director of the film series' Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and the co-founder of the production and finance company behind other large films becomes the latest Hollywood big shot to be accused of sexual misconduct.
The Los Angeles Times reports six actresses, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge accuse Ratner of inappropriate advances toward them.
Part of Munn’s claim includes a 2004 incident during which she was a guest on the set of After the Sunset, a Ratner-directed film. She accuses the director of pleasuring himself in front of her after she dropped off some food at his trailer.
Munn had previously wrote about the alleged incident in her 2010 book Suck It, Wonder Woman! The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek, but did not use Ratner’s name explicitly. He subsequently denied the claim that he pleasured himself but did claim that he and Munn dated and even “[slept with] her a few times.” He later admitted that he hadn’t slept with Munn.
“It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won’t quit,” she told the LA Times. “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.”
Hentsridge, in her accusation, says she and friends visited Ratner’s apartment during the early 90s, when she was just 19 and he was a video director. She says she fell asleep on his couch and when she woke up, Ratner would not let her leave and forced her to perform oral sex on him before she was permitted to leave.
Brett Ratner, of course, “categorically” denied all of the allegations, in a ten-page letter written by his attorney.
“I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” the statement reads in part. “Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
Ratner is just the latest in a string of Hollywood elites accused of sexual assault. Producer Harvey Weinstein, and more recently, actor Kevin Spacey have been accused of heinous acts of sexual misconduct.
