Director and producer Brett Ratner, who has been the subject of a number of sexual misconduct allegations this week, has filed a libel suit against a woman who accused him of rape.
Melanie Kohler accused Ratner of sexual assault in a Facebook post back on November 20, which has been obtained by Variety. In her post, Kohler alleges that Ratner preyed on her while she was drunk at a club “about 12 years ago”, and that he took her to a house he was staying at and forced himself upon her.
She said that she was inspired to share her story by the accusations against Harvey Weinstein:
I’m embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, and wish I could go back to forgetting it ever happened. 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.
Ratner filed suit against Kohler because of the post, describing her allegation as “deliberately false and malicious” and claiming that he has “suffered injuries to his personal and professional reputations” as a direct result.
Ratner also denies the claims of all six women who spoke to the Los Angeles Times for the report earlier in the week on his alleged sexual misconduct.
On Wednesday, Warner Bros announced they were severing ties with Ratner going forward. After that announcement, Ratner followed it with his own statement claiming that he was “choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros-related activities”.
The director was previously slated to direct a biopic about Hugh Hefner, but that project might well be dead in the water now that Playboy distancing itself from Ratner.
