The groundswell of allegations against Hollywood sexual abusers continues, and now, sickening patterns are coming to light. Earlier this month, director and producer Brett Ratner was accused of sexually assaulting six women, a claim he stringently denied. He even went so far as to sue one of his accusers for libel.
Now, the Los Angeles Times has published a horrifying report alleging that Ratner not only assaulted women, he helped others do the same, especially Def Jam Recordings mogul, Russell Simmons.
Ratner met Simmons in the late 1980s when he was a film student at New York University.
Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons in St. Barts, 1998. Both are now accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct.… https://t.co/Yn9CGecExl— Lauren Greenfield (@Lauren Greenfield)1511197706.0
In fact, Ratner and Simmons became so close, Simmons once told "Vanity Fair," "He's my son, all right."
In fact, it seems Ratner had a pattern of aligning himself with predatory older, powerful men.
A Model Alleges Russell Simmons Sexually Assaulted Her While Brett Ratner Watched https://t.co/jTvjUBfFTk https://t.co/bg9KSTu2rP— Dlisted (@Dlisted)1511220725.0
But Rather was especially close with Simmons, and now, it seems, he had a pattern of sharing extremely-young women with him.
Model claims Russell Simmons raped her in shower while filmmaker Brett Ratner ‘sat there and watched’… https://t.co/jotbg7bfIA— Conservative News (@Conservative News)1511152083.0
Once they got in the apartment, Khalighi alleges that Simmons immediately started ripping her clothes off. Frightened, she looked over to Ratner.
Remember when Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons almost started a modeling agency just to pick up women https://t.co/cMheCr07no— Davin Kolderup (@Davin Kolderup)1509575867.0
Simmons tried to rape the young model, but she fought fiercely.
"I fought it wildly," she said to the LA Times. When Simmons eventually relented and instead asked for oral sex, she says, "I guess I just acquiesced." Ratner "just sat there and watched."Afterwards, she took shower to wash off her disgust, and that was when Simmons pounced again.
He penetrated her until she jerked away. "It hurt so much," she said. Again, she was only 17 at the time, and Simmons was in his early 30s at the time – twice her age.Simmons put out a statement via his lawyer disputing the claim.
Example #3 of what a piece of sh!t @UncleRUSH is. #hollywoodperverts Quote from this sexual predator "Everything t… https://t.co/IjS97oZpcK— NotJudd Apatow (@NotJudd Apatow)1511196226.0
"Everything that occurred between Keri and me occurred with her full consent and participation," he said.
Again, she was 17 years old.
He continued by saying that he was mostly with other people while he was with her. Ratner denied seeing Khalighi ask for help or struggle, again, via attorney Martin Singer, who represents both men.
Many people aren't buying Simmons' denials. He has, after all, had a long history of modelizing – primarily dating only models.
Even more telling, he has had a pattern of going after very young models. In fact, his former wife, Kimora Lee, was "16 or 17" – this is according to a Vanity Fair article – when he first startedVanity Fair is not the only publication to document Simmons' predations. Playboy also documented some of it.
As the LA Times describes, "In a 2005 Playboy article about Simmons’ reformed ways, [Playboy] magazine writer Touré described a 1994 incident in which he met Simmons for an interview at a cafe below the music mogul’s apartment. When Ratner showed up a little while later, Simmons disappeared for half an hour without explanation. Touré wrote that he later learned that Simmons 'had gone up to his place and had sex with a sumptuous model whom Ratner had just finished with.'" But it doesn't end there...When Terry Crews began a sexual assault case against his groper, Simmons sent him an email asking him to let it go.
Message Russell Simmons sent to me regarding my sexual assault case against Adam Venit of @WME: Dear @UncleRUSH——… https://t.co/Gpd3NU3SVm— terry crews (@terry crews)1511106902.0