Brett Ratner Out as Oscar Producer

Looks like Brett Ratner won't be producing the Academy Awards after all. Many were surprised when the director of the Rush Hour trilogy and X-Men: The Last Stand was announced as producing next year's 84th Annual Academy Awards, given his less than acclaimed track record as a filmmaker, coupled with his frat boy-attitude reputation. But on the heels of several days of negative press about Ratner, as he raised eyebrows several times while promoting his new film, Tower Heist, The Hollywood Reporter says he'll be stepping down from his Oscar duties.

A brief recap of Ratner's week of notoriety: First, on Attack of the Show, he claimed to, in his words, have "banged" former AOTS host Olivia Munn, a claim he then retracted. He also told Howard Stern about sleeping with Lindsay Lohan, noting he had her have an STD test first (standard practice for all Ratner conquests, he stressed). But he really drew attention after a screening of Tower Heist this week, when he made the statement, "rehearsal is for f*gs" – simultaneously giving ammunition to those who criticize his films while also, not surprisingly, drawing fire for his incendiary choice of words. Ratner ended up releasing a statement afterwards, saying "I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. It was a dumb way of expressing myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words."

The Reporter says the Academy is expected to issue an announcement about Ratner's departure later today. One question is whether this will affect Eddie Murphy hosting the Oscars, given it was Ratner – his Tower Heist director – who recruited him in the first place.

Update: The Academy have now confirmed Ratner is out. Says Academy President Tom Sherak, "He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself. Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent."

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