Photo courtesy of The Daily Beast.
Summary: Brett Ratner is suing a woman who said he raped her over a decade ago.
On Wednesday, The Los Angeles Times published an expose on Brett Ratner where six women accused him of sexual harassment and assault. That day, the director and producer sued a woman who was not involved with that story for libel after she had accused him on Facebook of rape.
Melanie Kohler said that Ratner raped her over a decade ago, and she published her account on social media a week before the Los Angeles Times story aired. Ratner said the allegation was false, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On Wednesday, Ratner filed a complaint in Hawaii against Kohler, claiming libel. According to Ratner’s suit, Kohler said that at a party in Hollywood 12 years ago Ratner had forced himself on her when she was drunk.
Ratner’s lawsuit came at a time when six women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, said that he had sexually assaulted or harassed them. Munn said that she once was asked to deliver food to Ratner’s trailer, and he had greeted her by masturbating while eating shrimp. Henstridge said that when she was 19 he had cornered her in his apartment and forced her to give him oral sex.
Ratner is represented by Eric Seitz from Hawaii. Seitz said that Kohler’s account is fabricated and that she published it maliciously. Ratner is seeking an unspecified amount of damages and claims that he suffers emotional distress and harm to his personal and professional reputation.
According to TMZ, Ratner’s team had asked Kohler to remove her post, which she did, but she continued to share her Ratner rapist story.
However, it is noted that The Los Angeles Times’ story has resulted in a floodgate of negativity towards the producer and director, with other big names such as Jessica Chastain coming forward to call him a creep. Ratner, who had a $450 million producing deal with Warner Brothers, has also cut ties with the studio after the misconduct allegations came to light.
Ratner denies all of the allegations against him, and in Los Angeles, he is being represented by Martin Singer.
“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 to The Los Angeles Times. “Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
The sexual harassment story about Ratner comes almost a month after The New York Times exposed serial predator Harvey Weinstein, also a Hollywood producer. After Weinstein’s article came out, dozens of other women came forward to accuse him of harassment or rape, and it inspired other victims of sexual abusers to share their stories.