Article Point: Olivia Munn calls out Hollywood’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations

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While some might view the news out of Hollywood in recent weeks as a seeming reckoning with its nightmare problem of rampant sexual abuse, actor Olivia Munn isn’t convinced that’s the case.

Munn was just one of 6 women who accused director Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct in a Los Angeles Times investigation earlier this month. But though Warner Brothers reportedly severed its ties with Ratner in the wake of the allegations, the Times reports that the studio has yet to cut ties with the director’s production company.

In an interview published Saturday from the Times, Munn said she wants Warner Brothers to “sever all ties and relationships with Brett Ratner,” and spoke candidly about the industry’s recent handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

“If you ask me, now, do I feel good? Do I feel like I have justice? No,” she said. “I’m thankful that we’re in this moment where our voices actually matter. But I don’t feel like there’s actually an awakening of consciousness in Hollywood. There’s an understanding that there will be backlash in the marketplace and to their bottom line if they don’t make these big announcements. They aren’t woke; they’re scared.”

In the interview, Munn makes clear that she can’t understand why others in Hollywood would continue to work with Ratner. She noted that for years she told anyone she could about her disturbing experiences with the director, including producers with whom Ratner was closely linked.

“I stuck up for myself in the only way I knew how,” she said. “I’ve never been afraid to lose a job or lose a connection over calling somebody out for something that I think is immoral. And clearly, everybody had moved on. Ratner was making big moves in Hollywood. I’d managed to keep doing my thing, but I didn’t forget. And I didn’t forget how Hollywood forgot.

And though the current fallout for powerful men accused of sexual misconduct might seem like a real turning point for the film industry, Munn isn’t confident much will change as long as current power structures remain intact.

“What we’re seeing now … canceling shows, publicly condemning these acts — it’s papering over a much more deceitful and rotten infrastructure,” she said. “The incredibly gross people will be thrown into the fire in the hopes that the masses will quiet down.

But what they’re doing is pruning the tree — cutting off the wilder vines. And the disease still remains in the tree.”

On Sunday, just a day after the piece, the Times published a story on new allegations against Ratner and music producer Russell Simmons, detailing the disturbing ways in which the director and friends allegedly enabled one another to commit acts of sexual misconduct.