Earlier today, the Los Angeles Times published an exposé in which six actresses (including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge) accused director and producer Brett Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct. Other actresses said that he also tried to proposition them by offering roles in his movies. Warner Bros., which works with Ratner and his RatPac Entertainment production company pretty much all the time (including on the upcoming Justice League and Ready Player One movies), quickly released a statement saying that it was “reviewing the situation” with Rather and was “aware of the allegations.”
As it turns out, though, Warner Bros. might not need to do much of anything. Deadline is now reporting that Ratner has announced that he’s willingly “stepping away” from any existing projects at Warner Bros., explaining that he doesn’t want the allegations to have a “negative impact” on the studio. Here’s Ratner’s brief statement in full:
In light of the allegations being made, I am choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros.- related activities. I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved.
This comes as The Weinstein Company is going through some major struggles due to its inescapable association with Harvey Weinstein—who is also facing a number of sexual harassment and assault allegations. That studio has already pulled the rest of its 2017 movies from the schedule and is currently removing its own name from other films, all in an attempt to distance itself from its disgraced co-founder.