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The filmmaker allegedly masturbated in front of Munn while holding a shrimp cocktail.
Another one bites the dust. Following sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, James Toback, Tyler Grasham and Andy Dick, Brett "Rehearsing Is for Fags" Ratner has been swept up into the mix. The L.A. Times has published an expose with stories from six separate women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, accusing the Rush Hour director of aggressive, abusive, and unwanted sexual behavior.
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New to Los Angeles, Munn was invited by a friend to the set of the 2004 film After the Sunset, which Ratner was directing. She was then asked to drop food off at his trailer and "assured that the director would not be there" but, upon entering, found him inside. "He walked out... with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other," Munn alleges. "And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated."
After the incident, she consulted a lawyer but was told not to attempt to face off against a powerful director as a new actress. Years later, she wrote about the experience in her 2010 memoir, Suck It, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek, but left out names and details. Then, in 2011, Ratner went on a TV program called Attack of the Show and literally admitted to being the director but says he never masturbated in front of her. He also said that he used to date her and "banged her a few times... but forgot her." Days later, he went on the Howard Stern Show and admitted it was a lie and felt remorse for making her look like "a whore."
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In another incident in 2010, Munn ran into him at an event and after he asked why she hated him, she explained, "It's more of a dislike." Ratner then grew angry and allegedly said: "Why? I bought 10 of your magazines and came over all of them." Ratner says he has no memory of this despite multiple witnesses at the party confirming the exchange.
In a separate instance, Henstridge recalls an incident with the director in the 1990s when she was a 19-year-old fashion model and he was a music-video director. She allegedly woke up in a room with him after a party and, as she attempted to leave, he blocked the doorway and forced her to blow him. "He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me," she said. "At some point, I gave in and he did his thing."
In other stories from the Times, the director has been accused of "loudly describing sex acts he wanted to perform" on a woman sitting next to him on a plane; trying to exchange sex for lines of dialogue with extras on the set of his films; and cornering actress Katharine Towne at a party.
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Like the rest of the men being accused of sexual assault lately, Ratner's behavior seems to be an open secret in Hollywood. It was only last Demember that Tina Fey, speaking at the Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, made this joke: "Brett Ratner is here. In his defense, he thought this was a thing where you could eat breakfast off of 100 women." Ratner's attorney, Marty Singer, has categorically denied all allegations.
As the dominos fall and more allegations come out against Ratner and other men who've allegedly abused their power in Hollywood, let's continue to applaud the brave people speaking out and remember this quote from Olivia Munn from today's L.A. Times story: "I shouldn't have to be completely broken, battered, and devalued in order to prove that he crossed a line."
