Brett Ratner’s Milli Vanilli biopic has been dropped by production company Millennium Media after criticism over the director’s comeback. Back in 2017, the filmmaker was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by seven women, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.

Ratner has denied the allegations, but bosses at Warner Bros. cut ties with the director at the time, and he went on to sue a woman who accused him of rape, before later dropping the lawsuit.

It was announced last week that Ratner was helming the long-gestating film about the controversial lip-syncing duo, which was a passion project for the filmmaker, and his firm RatPac Entertainment was set to produce along with Millennium.

Activists at women’s rights group Time’s Up condemned the movie, and said that “there should be no comeback” for Ratner.

On Thursday, it was announced that bosses at Millennium Media have now decided to scrap the project after facing backlash.

A joint statement from RatPac and Millennium did not address the controversy, but did state that they were parting ways, and the film would still go ahead with other investors.

“On the heels of the announcement of the long gestating Milli Vanilli movie, the project fielded multiple competitive bids and a group of private equity investors have emerged that are fully financing the movie to begin production shortly,” they announced, adding that Millennium would not “be involved in the production.”

Ratner, who has also helmed Tower Heist and Rush Hour, has not directed a film since Hercules, which starred Dwayne Johnson, in 2014.

– Cover Media