Six women have come forward to detail alleged incidents of sexual harassment or misconduct by Brett Ratner in a Los Angeles Times story published on Wednesday, November 1.
Olivia Munn was among the women who spoke to the Times, claiming several different incidents of sexual harassment. The actress alleged that early in her career, on the set of 2004’s After the Sunset, she went to deliver the director a meal in his trailer and he proceeded to masturbate in front of her. Munn wrote about the incident in her 2010 essay collection, Suck It, Wonder Woman, but did not name Ratner at the time. A year later, Ratner identified himself as the director in question and alleged he “banged” Munn, a claim he later admitted was not true.
Munn also told the Times that when the two ran into each other at a party in 2010, he told her that he ejaculated on magazine covers featuring her image.
“It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won’t quit,” Munn said of Ratner. “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.”
She added: “I’ve made specific, conscientious choices not to work with Brett Ratner.”
Actress and former fashion model Natasha Henstridge alleged that the filmmaker forced her to perform oral sex on him when she was 19-years-old. “He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me,” she told the outlet. “At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.”
Other women to come forward to the Times include actress Katharine Towne, who claims Ratner followed her into a bathroom, as well as Jorina King, Eri Sasaki and Jaime Ray Newman.
Ratner’s attorney, Marty Singer, has denied all allegations against his client. “I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” Singer said in a 10-page letter to The Times. “Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
The claims against Ratner come amid Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct scandal following the publication of investigative pieces from The New York Times and The New Yorker that detail decades of alleged harassment and assault by the former studio head. While Weinstein has denied all rape allegations against him, many actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie and others have come forward with personal accounts of alleged incidents of sexual harassment by Weinstein.
Several women, including Julianne Moore, Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams, have also come forward recently to accuse James Toback of sexual harassment. It was announced on Tuesday, October 31, that both Weinstein and Toback are currently being investigated by the Beverly Hills Police Department.
“The Beverly Hills Police Department has recently received multiple complaints involving Harvey Weinstein. These cases are under investigation and no further information will be released at this time,” the police department confirmed in a Facebook post. The same statement, but with James Toback’s name, was also released.
