Ellen Page accuses Brett Ratner of ‘homophobic and abusive behavior’

Rappler.com

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Ellen Page accuses Brett Ratner of ‘homophobic and abusive behavior’
The actress said that the 'X-Men' director outed her publicly on set without her consent

MANILA, Philippines – Ellen Page has joined the wave of people coming forward with their experiences of sexual harrassment and abuse, sharing her own story of being outed against her will by director Brett Ratner, whom she worked with in X:Men: The Last Stand.

Posting on Facebook on November 10, Page recalled the incident in which Ratner allegedly told another woman to have sex with her.

 

According to the actress, Ratner said “you should f-ck her to make her realize she’s gay,” pointing to Page during a cast and crew meet and greet. The movie began filming in 2005.

Page, who was 18 years old at the time and had not yet come out to herself, said she “felt violated.”

“I looked down at my feet, didn’t say a word and watched as no one else did either. This man, who had cast me in the film, started our months of filming at a work event with this horrific, unchallenged plea. He ‘outed’ me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic,” she wrote.

Page officially came out in 2014 at a Las Vegas conference in support of the LGBT community.

The actress also said that Ratner would say degrading things to women on set: “I remember a woman walking by the monitor as he made a comment about her ‘flappy pussy.’”

She also said that he pressured her to wear a shirt that read “Team Ratner.” When she declined and he insisted, she said “I am not on your team.”

“Later in the day, producers of the film came to my trailer to say that I ‘couldn’t talk like that to him.’ I was being reprimanded, yet he was not being punished nor fired for the blatantly homophobic and abusive behavior we all witnessed,” she wrote.

Other accusations

Page is one among several women who have accused Ratner of harrassment and abuse. Actress Natasha Henstridge said that Ratner forced her to perform oral sex, while actress Olivia Munn said that he had masturbated in front of her on set. Four other women also came forward with accounts of Ratner’s sexually inappropriate behavior.

Ratner has denied the allegations, with his lawyer Martin Singer telling the Los Angeles Times: “I have represented Mr Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harrassment.”

Ratner is one of several high-profile Hollywood men who have been accused of sexual harrassment and abuse in the wake of a New York Times article that uncovered decades of abuse allegations against Miramax producer Harvey Weinstein.

Sexual abuse in Hollywood

In her post, Page decried the widespread occurrence of sexual abuse in Hollywood, sharing her experiences of being harrassed and even assaulted by other men in the industry.

“When I was 16 a director took me to dinner (a professional obligation and a very common one). He fondled my leg under the table and said, ‘You have to make the move, I can’t.’ I did not make the move and I was fortunate to get away from that situation. It was a painful realization: my safety was not guaranteed at work,” she said.

“An adult authority figure for whom I worked intended to exploit me, physically. I was sexually assaulted by a grip months later. I was asked by a director to sleep with a man in his late ‘20s and to tell them about it. I did not. This is just what happened during my 16th year, a teenager in the entertainment industry.”

Page went on to refer to other powerful men who have been accused of rape, sexual abuse, and harrassment: US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, US president Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen.

“I want to see these men have to face what they have done. I want them to not have power anymore. I want them to sit and think about who they are without their lawyers, their millions, their fancy cars, houses upon houses, their ‘playboy’ status and swagger,” Page wrote.

“What I want the most, is for this to result in healing for the victims. For Hollywood to wake up and start taking some responsibility for how we all have played a role in this. I want us to reflect on this endemic issue and how this power dynamic of abuse leads to an enormous amount of suffering.” – Rappler.com

 

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