Sex accusations now levied at Ratner, Hoffman; NPR chief ousted

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Hollywood’s widening sexual-harassment crisis has ensnared a prominent film director after six women – including actress Olivia Munn – accused Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct in a Los Angeles Times report Wednesday.

Playboy Enterprises quickly distanced itself from Ratner as his attorney denied the allegations, and late Wednesday Warner Bros. severed ties with the director, whose expired first-look deal with the studio will not be renewed, according to a person with knowledge of the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The reverberations also reached back 32 years as Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman came forward to apologize for purportedly sexually harassing a 17-year-old intern in 1985.

Writer Anna Graham Hunter alleged in a Wednesday column in The Hollywood Reporter that the now 80-year-old actor groped her on the set of TV movie “Death of a Salesman” and “talked about sex to me and in front of me.”

Hoffman issued a statement Wednesday, apologizing for “anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

Munn also complained about onset behavior, alleging that while visiting the set of Ratner’s “After the Sunset” in 2004, he masturbated in front of her in his trailer. Munn described the incident, without naming Ratner, in a 2010 collection of essays.

Ratner’s lawyer issued a statement Wednesday in which he said the director “vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations.”

The crisis has widened to other areas of entertainment and media, including country music. Kirt Webster, a major country music publicist who has represented high-profile clients such as Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr., had denied accusations that he sexually assaulted an aspiring country singer.

A former singer named Austin Rice says Webster groped his genitals, kissed him, made him strip naked and sexually assaulted him in 2008.

In addition, Michael Oreskes was ousted Wednesday as National Public Radio’s news chief after sexual-harassment accusations, some dating to when he was Washington bureau chief at The New York Times in the 1990s.

Oreskes said in a statement that he was deeply sorry to the people he hurt.