Brett Ratner resigned as the producer of the Oscars after a string of erratic behavior and offensive remarks.
“Rehearsal is for fags,” Ratner said when asked about his rehearsal process at a Q&A Friday at the ArcLight in California.
This only added to the controversial behavior he displayed Monday on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show. According to Fox News, he got carried away during a sex discussion after telling the host he sends women that he sleeps with to his doctor to be checked for diseases.
Ratner later released a statement regarding his resignation.
“I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents,” Ratner said, according to the Hollywood Reported.
According to the Associated Press, Ratner said he would be “taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetrated.”
Reportedly, following the incident GLAAD stated that reps met with Ratner about speaking out against anti-gay language in popular culture.
The Academy also released a statement.
“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences.”
“Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable,” he said.
Currently, there is no word on who will replace Ratner—In August, the academy announced Ratner would produce the show.
