Brett Ratner accused of watching while Russell Simmons sexually assaulted 17-year-old

Brett Ratner has been accused of looking on while Def Jam founder Russell Simmons sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl.

Keri Claussen Khalighi was a model who had met ‘Rush Hour’ director Ratner and Simmons at a casting call for a music video in 1991, according to the Los Angeles Times.

After taking her to dinner in New York, they then asked her back to Simmons apartment to watch another music video they’d been working on.

Once there, she alleges that Simmons began yanking off her clothes and making ‘aggressive’ sexual advances.

“I looked over at Brett and said ‘help me’ and I’ll never forget the look on his face,” she said.

“In that moment, the realization fell on me that they were in it together.”

She says that she ‘fought wildly’ against Simmons, who was 34 at the time, after he tried to force her to have sex with him, but eventually coerced her into oral sex.

“I guess I just acquiesced,” she added, while Ratner allegedly ‘just sat there and watched’.

She goes on to allege that Simmons further assaulted her in the shower following the incident, after which she left the apartment.

“I know Keri Claussen Khalighi and remember the weekend in 1991 that she has referenced,” said Simmons in a statement.

“Everything that happened between us 26 years ago was completely consensual and with Keri’s full participation. We spent time in my apartment over a period of two days and one night, as well as at some public places including Nell’s Nightclub.

“Much of the time we were in the presence of other acquaintances. I’m deeply saddened and truly shocked to learn of Keri’s assertations as to what happened over the course of that weekend.”

Though his lawyer, Ratner, who filmed a host of videos for Simmons’ Def Jam label in the late 80s and 90s, said that he had ‘no recollection’ of Khalighi asking him to help her, and denied witnessing her ‘protest’.

A further three women came forward to accuse Ratner of sexual misconduct in the new exposé in the Times, including an aspiring model called Tanya Reid who claims Ratner forced her to perform oral sex on him when she was 18.

There are six other previous allegations against Ratner from actresses including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.

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