Brett Ratner Is Out as Oscar Producer
Oh that Brett Ratner.
Earlier this year, Ratner signed on to co-produce the Academy Awards and enlisted his buddy Eddie Murphy to act as host. This was considered a coup for the Oscar telecast, mostly because Murphy is being seen as an ideal choice as emcee.
But now, Ratner is out. Well, actually, he resigned after an uproar over comments he made recently while promoting his latest film, Tower Heist (which, by the way, is not stealing much cash at the box office).
First, there was Ratner's appearance on G4's Attack of the Show where he discussed his relationship with former Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn, saying, "I used to date Olivia Munn, I'll be honest with everyone here. But when she was 'Lisa.' She wasn't Asian back then. She was hanging out on my set of After the Sunset, I banged her a few times, but I forgot her."
Then, a few days later, Ratner attended a screening of Tower Heist at L.A.'s Arclight Cinemas and revealed during a Q&A session that he doesn't care for preparation while filming, artist that he is. Waving his hand, Ratner stated dismissively, "Rehearsal is for fags."
That's not the thing one wants to hear from the producer of the Academy Awards, a show that is not only a live telecast watched by tens of millions of people, but also a show that is a major production that could fall apart at any moment in front of tens of millions of people.
It's also a program that is eager to be perceived as relevant to an increasingly disinterested audience of young people and remain significant to its core constituency of artists, many of whom are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered.
So, now, Ratner has taken responsibility for his words and has resigned from his post as Oscar producer, saying, "Over the last few days, I've gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I've hurt and offended, I'd like to apologize publicly and unreservedly."
You can read his surprisingly eloquent statement HERE at Deadline.
When I first heard about these incidents, I didn't think much about them because, hey, it's just Brett Ratner being Brett Ratner. Boorishness is his state of being. These statements were just par for the Ratner course — but, apparently, the Ratner course has gotten harder to play.
Ratner is now taking the first steps toward public redemption by partnering with the gay media watchdog group GLAAD, who has stated it is working with Ratner "to convene public discussions featuring leaders in the entertainment industry about promoting fair and accurate inclusions of LGBT people and stories."
Oh, in case you're curious, Ratner has also apologized to Olivia Munn, saying he lied about "banging" her. He told noted truth magnet Howard Stern that Munn is "actually talented . . . the problem is I made her look like she's a whore." That's an apology, right? Don't feel too bad for Munn. She's received a little press out of this whole fiasco, so she's probably cool.
(Now that you know what happened, isn't the title of this article just hilarious?)
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