After The Hollywood Reporter (THR) dropped an explosive report detailing decades of abuse allegations against Academy Award-winning producer Scott Rudin (“The Social Network,” “No Country for Old Men”), the biggest name in the business to publicly back his accusers is producer Megan Ellison, founder of Annapurna Pictures and daughter of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Ellison alleged that Rudin also engaged in sexist and racist behavior beyond the allegations of physical and mental abuse detailed in the THR article.
“This piece barely scratches the surface of Scott Rudin’s abusive, racist, and sexist behavior. Similarly to Harvey, too many are afraid to speak out. I support and applaud those who did. There’s good reason to be afraid because he’s vindictive and has no qualms about lying,” she tweeted.
This piece barely scratches the surface of Scott Rudin’s abusive, racist, and sexist behavior. Similarly to Harvey, too many are afraid to speak out. I support and applaud those who did. There’s good reason to be afraid because he’s vindictive and has no qualms about lying. https://t.co/0iFSgzJx9T
— Megan Ellison (@meganeellison) April 7, 2021
According to Indiewire, Ellison has a rough history with Scott Rudin going back to 2014.
“Back during the infamous 2014 Sony leak, a Rudin email was made public in which the mega-producer called Ellison ‘a bipolar 28-year-old lunatic.’ Ellison was trying to get involved with ‘Steve Jobs,’ which Rudin was producing at Sony. Rudin also implied that Ellison needed to take ‘meds’ in order to get a production off the ground,” reported the outlet.
Later, Ellison retweeted a post from the brother of one of Rudin’s former assistants, who committed suicide and allegedly suffered both physical and mental abuse at the hands of Rudin.
“The article was a challenging read because Kevin worked for Scott Rudin as his executive assistant in 2008 and 2009, and suffered much of the same abuse described in this article,” the tweet read. “I don’t believe that the abuse Scott Rudin’s [sic] inflicted on my brother alone caused Kevin to kill himself – but I think Rudin’s abuse was undeniably a factor in the mental health issues Kevin suffered in the final years of his life.”
“Kevin developed a severe anxiety disorder in his time working for Rudin, and saw therapists on and off for the remainder of his life,” the tweet thread later added.
In a lengthy expose for THR, several of Rudin’s former staffers alleged that the producer, who already had a reputation for being hot-tempered, would regularly engage in verbally and physically abusive behavior in the office. One particularly nasty incident involved him allegedly smashing an Apple computer over an assistant’s hand, sending him to the emergency room.
“At about 4:15 p.m. — more than 10 hours into a typical Rudin day that began at 6 and never wrapped before 8 — the Oscar-winning producer was enraged that one of his assistants failed to get him a seat on a sold-out flight,” reported THR. “In a fit of fury, he allegedly smashed an Apple computer monitor on the assistant’s hand. The screen shattered, leaving the young man bleeding and in need of immediate medical attention. One person in the office at the time described the incident as sounding like a car crash: a cacophonous collision of metal, glass and limb. The wounded assistant headed to the emergency room, and Rudin called his lawyer, according to another staffer there that Halloween afternoon. Everyone else huddled in the conference room, shaken. No one stayed until 8 p.m., with most of the staff heading over to a Times Square bar for a therapeutic drink.”
The alleged victim declined to comment on the story, but several former staffers claimed to have witnessed the horrific event.
As THR noted, Rudin’s alleged abuse has apparently been known in Hollywood circles for several years, though no Weinstein-style reckoning has come.
Related: Famed Producer Scott Rudin Accused Of Bullying, Abuse: ‘Every Day Was Exhausting And Horrific’