Ronan Farrow says filmmaker Brett Ratner tipped off Harvey Weinstein to his planned exposé — after the “Rush Hour” director promised his confidence, according to a new book.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wrote in his new book “Catch and Kill” that he reached out to Ratner as he investigated Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Requesting the director’s discretion, Farrow allegedly told him that there were “vulnerable women who might get blowback if Weinstein became agitated.”
“Do you feel comfortable not repeating anything I mention, for their sake?” Farrow asked Ratner, according to the book.
Farrow claims that Ratner promised that he wouldn’t and said he knew of a woman who might have had an experience with Weinstein.
But Farrow alleges the “Red Dragon” director “almost immediately” informed Weinstein of his inquiry.
“Harvey says Brett Ratner called him and now he’s all spun up,” agent Alan Berger told Farrow, according to the book.
Months later, Ratner would face his own sexual harassment scandal when six women made allegations against him in a Los Angeles Times report.
“Brett Ratner vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him, and we are confident that his name will be cleared once the current media frenzy dies down and people can objectively evaluate the nature of these claims,” Ratner’s lawyer, Marty Singer, said at the time.
His lawyer said Tuesday that Farrow’s claims about Ratner are “categorically untrue.”
“Harvey Weinstein was a known enemy of Brett’s,” Singer said. “The statement does not make any sense.”
Singer continued, “I would add that there was no fact checking done by the publisher of the book with my client concerning this alleged statement.”
Weinstein said through a rep: “Marty Singer is 100% correct. At the time I was having a difficult time with Brett Ratner and there was nothing happening between me and him.”