Hollywood Harassment Accusations Snowballing As Brett Ratner, Jeremy Piven, Dustin Hoffman Are Named Offenders

When Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct, many victims of Hollywood sexual harassment hadn’t dared reveal their cases yet. Only when Rose McGowan encouraged victims to come forward did many Hollywood moguls become exposed as alleged offenders. This week, three more names were mentioned: Brett Ratner, Jeremy Piven, and Dustin Hoffman.

On Wednesday, according to an L.A. Times report, six women have accused the well-known producer Brett Ratner of harassing them sexually.

Among those who have accused him are Natasha Henstridge, Olivia Munn, Katharine Towne, Jaime Ray Newman, and Melanie Kohler, who was not mentioned in the Times report. They came up to explain in explicit detail how Ratner allegedly forced himself sexually on them.

Subsequently, Brett Ratner has denied the allegations from these women. Furthermore, he is reportedly taking legal action against one of them, Melanie Kohler, for defamation.

One other name that came up is Dustin Hoffman. Writer Anna Graham Hunter accused him of groping her in 1985 when she was 17 and Hoffman was 48 years old. In her claim, Hunter described how the prominent actor and director grabbed her behind and talked about sex with her. The alleged incident took place on the set of Death of a Salesman, where she worked as an intern.

Dustin Hoffman has taken a different action from Brett Ratner after the allegation. He apologized to Hunter in a written statement.

“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

Following Brett Ratner and Dustin Hoffman, the last name that came up as an alleged sexual offender is Jeremy Piven. Actress Cassidy Freeman became the second woman to come forward to accuse the actor of predatory behavior.

The first allegation against Piven came from the TV personality Ariane Bellamar in her series of tweets. Afterward, Cassidy Freeman posted on her Instagram on Wednesday to support Bellamar and accuse Piven of sexual harassment as well.

@jeremypiven You will deny this because, sadly, she’s deniable. The backlash this woman received was horrendous. And whether or not her accusations are true, the TRUTH is I know you. I know what you did and attempted to do to me when I was far too young. THAT I know. And you know it too. Unless there were so many of us, that you can’t remember. Predatory behavior is a chronic way for you to seek power. Do you feel powerful? With your lawyers and your networks and your die hard man-fans who call your victims bimbos? Or do you know, in your rotten gut, that you will have to lie for the rest of your life? I hope from now on, you keep it in your pants and you never get to do it again.

A post shared by Cassidy Freeman (@hatface) on Nov 1, 2017 at 7:07am PDT

Jeremy Piven has denied the allegation from Ariane Bellamar. In his official statement, the 52-year-old actor, director, and producer said that the sexual misconduct as Bellamar depicted did not happen. Piven has not replied to the second allegation from Cassidy Freeman.

Cases of Hollywood sexual harassment have snowballed with more names being revealed. It will be interesting to see more stories unfold as more victims come forward and support each other.

[Featured Image by Dan Breckwoldt/iStock]