Over the weekend Page Six published a story claiming that Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot refused to sign onto the movie’s sequel unless Brett Ratner, who was accused of multiple accounts of sexual harassment, was taken off the project as a producer. Ratner, whose accusers include Olivia Munn and Ellen Page, allegedly made a habit of masturbating in front of coworkers among other lewd acts of assault. Today, however, Warner Bro’s released a statement claiming the story to be false, and said that by the time Wonder Woman 2 comes out, the deal between them and Ratner’s production company, RatPac-Dune Entertainment will have expired anyways.
Before this news got out, people flocked to twitter to praise the superhero star of standing her ground and using her powers for good to remove Ratner from the project. The most recent development on this story, though, doesn’t necessarily mean Gadot doesn’t have an anti-Ratner stance. While neither Gadot nor Ratner have made public statements on the issue, here is what we can infer.
At the end of October, Gadot backed out of a Jewish National Fund dinner where she was slated to present Ratner with the Tree of Life Award to him. Additionally, around that time, she posted on her Instagram account that she promised to stand united against bullying and sexual assault.
After her Instagram post and the Jewish National Fund dinner she backed out of, the LA Times published their article detailing the allegations six women made against Ratner. After the release of the article, Ratner announced he would be stepping away from RatPac-Dune, which means that should Warner Bro’s even renew their deal with the production company, a deal that expires a few months before the release of the second Wonder Woman film, Ratner wouldn’t be included in that deal.
Gadot might not have needed to officially wield her power to get rid of Ratner, but her other actions seem to make clear her stance on his behavior. Perhaps, should it have had come to that, she would have made such an extreme ultimatum. Either way, it is vindicating to see the bad guy get his comeuppance on and off screen.
