Another Day, Another Powerful Hollywood Figure Accused of Sexual Misconduct and Abuse of Power

Are you kidding me?

Yep. Another day, another Hollywood bigwig being outed as little better than a back alley pervert.

Filmmaker Brett Ratner has now been accused by six women of various forms of sexual harassment or misconduct.

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Ratner is the power behind movies such as “Tower Heist,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and “Rush Hour.”

At 48 years old, he’s also gotten the reputation for being a “playboy,” but if he’s doing everything that he’s being accused of, maybe it’s not so much that he’s a playboy, but that he’s a total scumbag and he’s billing it as actual, consensual encounters.

Among those claiming Ratner violated them, or at least acted inappropriately towards them are actresses Natasha Henstridge, Olivia Munn, Jamie Ray Newman, Katharine Towne, and several lesser known, aspiring actresses, Eri Sasaki and Jorina King.

After the revelation of Harvey Weinstein, and a host of other powerful men using their positions to take liberties they are not due with women either in their employ, or who they otherwise wield power over, I can’t even be shocked, with some of the accounts coming out, anymore.

I can be disgusted that the men are not effectively made eunuchs, however.

Henstridge describes her encounter with Ratner from years ago, when she was a 19-year old model and he was a young music video producer.

Henstridge was at Ratner’s apartment with friends, watching TV. She made the mistake of falling asleep, and when she woke, her friends had gone, leaving her alone with Ratner.

As she rose to leave, he blocked the door, began touching himself, then forced her to perform oral sex.

Said Henstridge:

“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.”

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And, in keeping with the tradition of these revelations, Ratner is denying the incident ever occurred, through his lawyer.

“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.”

Yes, because that’s how it always works, right?

Henstridge, who went on to star in films like “Species” and “The Whole Nine Yards,” says she was encouraged to come forward because of the Weinstein case.

Olivia Munn actually wrote about her encounter with Ratner in a 2010 collection of essays, but at that time, did not name Ratner, specifically.

Then Ratner started spouting off that he’d “banged her,” and it was years of trying to shed that ugly rumor (He later admitted it wasn’t true).

Having enough of it, Munn retold her tale, which occurred on a movie set:

Not long after Munn arrived on the Santa Monica set in 2004, she said, she was asked to drop some food off in Ratner’s trailer as a favor. She said she was assured that the director would not be there.

Munn entered Ratner’s trailer and quickly placed the food on a table. She said she was startled to find him inside. She tried to make a quick exit, but Ratner implored her not to leave.

“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 said. “And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated.”

Munn said she let out a “startled scream” and raced out of the trailer. She said she immediately told the man who had asked her to deliver the food. His reaction? “It wasn’t a shock. It wasn’t surprise,” Munn recalled. “It was just, ‘Ugh, sorry about that.’”

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After telling her sister, Munn sought out a lawyer, who told her that as an actress just starting out, it probably wasn’t in her best interest to try and go against a powerful director, so she kept quiet.

Similar stories were told about Harvey Weinstein, except it wasn’t shrimp cocktail, but potted plants involved.

“That did leave an impact on me,” Munn said, reflecting on the conversation. “How broken do women have to be before people listen?”

It’s a good question.

The fact that Ratner lied, and continued to lie about the encounter says a lot.

After running into him again in 2010, it wasn’t as if Ratner had learned his lesson.

In 2010, after recently appearing on the cover of a magazine, she attended a CAA-hosted party where, she said, Ratner asked her, “Why do you hate me?” She said she told him: “It’s more of a dislike.”

Ratner grew angry, she said, and responded: “Why? I bought 10 of your magazines and came over all of them.”

Munn immediately told a friend what had happened, and several others in attendance have confirmed it, since then.

Extras and lesser knowns were not immune.

On the 2001 set of “Rush Hour 2” his behavior was just as repulsive.

Eri Sasaki, then a 21-year-old part-time model and aspiring singer, said her role as an extra required her to wear a skimpy outfit that exposed her midriff. While waiting for filming to begin one day, Ratner approached her, ran his index finger down her bare stomach and asked if she wanted to go into a bathroom with him. When she said no, she recalled Ratner saying, “Don’t you want to be famous?”

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He further pursued her, even offering her a speaking part in the movie.

She refused.

And this is what they do. They hold their position and their power over the heads of those who are in no position to oppose them, or to make any real impact against them.

Hollywood, with all its virtue signaling and self-righteous preening are horrible at policing their own.

If Ratner’s story follows the pattern that has been carved out by Weinstein and others who have been outed ahead of him, the count of victims of his misogyny won’t stop at 6.

Keep a tab of the names, and remember them all, the next time there’s a lavish Hollywood gala, designed to preach to the rest of the nation how we’re supposed to be living.

 

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