Ellen Page Accuses Director Brett Ratner of Homophobic Harassment

Actress Ellen Page has accused director Brett Ratner of outing her when she was 18 years old.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Page, who is a VICELAND host, said Ratner told a woman 10 years older than her “you should fuck [Page] to make her realize she’s gay” during a cast and crew meet and greet for X-Men: The Last Stand, which Ratner was directing.

VICE reached out to Ratner’s lawyer, Martin Singer, for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Ratner was recently accused of sexual assault or harassment by at least six women. The director has denied the allegations through his lawyer and is suing one woman who accused him of rape.

Page, who portrayed Kitty Pryde in the 2006 X-Men movie, said she had not yet acknowledged to herself that she was gay when Ratner made the comment.

“I felt violated when this happened. I looked down at my feet, didn’t say a word, and watched as no one else did either,” she wrote. “He outed me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic.” She went on to say the comments caused her “long standing feelings of shame.”

Page also alleges Ratner remarked on another woman’s “flappy pussy” on set.

She went on to say that during filming, she and Ratner got into an “altercation” when she refused to wear a shirt that said “Team Ratner” despite his insistence. Page said she told him “I am not on your team.” Later, she continues, she was told by other crew members that she couldn’t speak to him that way.

“I was being reprimanded, yet he was not being punished nor fired for the blatantly homophobic and abusive behaviour we all witnessed.”

Page went on to detail other instances of sexual harassment and assault she faced in the film industry, including being propositioned by a director who fondled her leg under a table, being sexually assaulted by a grip, and being asked by a director to have sex with an older man; all of the incidents occurred when Page was 16, she wrote.

She took aim at Hollywood’s culture of complicity when it comes to alleged serial predators like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein and said that working on a Woody Allen film was “the biggest regret” of her career.

In response to the LA Times investigation, Ratner’s attorney Singer said “I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.”

Follow Manisha on Twitter.