Brett Ratner Denies Epstein Association After Photo With Late Sex Offender Surfaces: ‘I’ve Been Somehow Sucked In’ | Video

Brett Ratner denied ties to late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after appearing in a photo included in the Justice Department’s latest file dump.

The “Melania” director addressed the photo during his interview with Piers Morgan, defending he had never been in contact with Epstein before that photo was taken.

“Oh, well, that picture in particular happened around 20 years ago,” the controversial filmmaker said. “That is a photograph of my fiancée, who invited me to this event — and that’s where the picture was taken. I had never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and I was never in contact with him after. “

However, Ratner refused to reveal the identity of his ex-fiancée, whose face was redacted, as well as another woman featured in the photo.

After Ratner reiterated that he “never” had any close association with Epstein, he called the growing Epstein files drama “horrible.”

“I mean, it’s horrible. You see, I’ve been somehow sucked in, you know, through an image,” he lamented. “There’s so many stories about so many different people. It’s hard to really follow and track what’s truth and what’s not truth. You could see where one photograph kind of puts me, you know, there with him and then all the stories start to spin out.”

He added: “I didn’t know him. It wasn’t really my world.”

This is not the first time Ratner has faced controversy. In 2017, six women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, accused Ratner of sexual misconduct. The director’s attorney, Martin Singer, noted at the time, “I have represented Mr Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.”

Ratner’s work on “Melania” marks his first major film since his #MeToo controversy. President Donald Trump, the husband of Ratner’s documentary subject, has also been named in the Epstein files, though, the DOJ called the claims “unfounded and false” in December.

The DOJ added at the time: “If they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

Watch Ratner’s interview above.

The post Brett Ratner Denies Epstein Association After Photo With Late Sex Offender Surfaces: ‘I’ve Been Somehow Sucked In’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.