Brett Ratner quits as Oscar producer

Los Angeles: Filmmaker Brett Ratner has resigned as the producer of Academy Awards after he came under fire for making insensitive comments. "Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career," Ratner, 42, said in a statement, reports usmagazine.com. "But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents," he added. The ‘Rush Hour’ director announced the decision just days after he upset gay rights activists by using a homosexual slur during a question-and-answer session to promote his new film ‘Tower Heist’. Ratner apologised for using the word "fag" at the Arclight Cinema event in Hollywood Friday, insisting it was "a dumb way of expressing myself". IANS