Film-maker and producer Brett Ratner has been accused of rape, following on from a string of other accusations from women in Hollywood.
Variety obtained a Facebook post in which a Melanie Kohler, a former employee of the Endeavor Talent Agency, accused the Rush Hour director of forcing himself on her.
In a post from 20 October, Kohler writes that Ratner “preyed” on her at a club “about 12 years ago”, took her to the home of producer Robert Evans, where Ratner was living at the time, and forced himself on her. Excerpts from the post were obtained by way of the libel suit Ratner filed against Kohler after she posted her account online.
Kohler wrote that she decided to come forward with her allegation after producer Harvey Weinstein was accused by over 60 women of sexually predatory behavior ranging from harassment to rape. She hoped Ratner would be held “accountable for the way he’s treated the nobodies of the world or at least the way he treated me”.
“I’m embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, and wish I could go back to forgetting it ever happened,” Kohler continued. “But if I do that, if we all do that, then it keeps happening. We have to come forward. I can’t be an advocate for women speaking out if I don’t speak out, too … Brett Ratner raped me. I’m saying his name, I’m saying it publicly. Now at least I can look at myself in the mirror and not feel like part of me is a coward or a hypocrite. I’m standing up and saying this happened to me and it was not OK. Come what may, it is the right thing to do.”
In the lawsuit, Ratner calls Kohler’s allegations “deliberately false and malicious”, adding that as a “direct and proximate” result of Kohler’s post he “has suffered injuries to his personal and professional reputations”. Ratner’s attorney Marty Singer told Variety that his client is innocent, calling Kohler’s story “completely fabricated”.
Ratner also categorically denies the allegations in the Los Angeles Times report, which included one from actress Olivia Munn who claims Ratner masturbated in front of her in his trailer on the set of his film After the Sunset, starring Pierce Brosnan.
On Wednesday, Warner Bros announced it had severed ties with Ratner. In a statement made afterward, Ratner wrote that he was “choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros-related activities”. Ratner’s proposed Hugh Hefner biopic, set to star Jared Leto, has now also been shelved with Playboy Enterprises also distancing themselves from the director.