Oscar winner Scott Rudin allegedly smashed a computer monitor on an assistant's hand, sending him to the ER
Award-winning producer Scott Rudin has been accused of "unhinged" abusive behavior in a new exposé.
A piece in The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday quotes former employees of Rudin's, the producer who has achieved EGOT status by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony during his career, as describing the alleged abuse they experienced working for him. For example, Rudin allegedly once became so angry at an assistant who wasn't able to get him a seat on a sold-out flight that he "smashed an Apple computer monitor" on his hand, leaving the assistant bleeding and forced to head to the emergency room.
"It was a very intense environment, but that just felt different," former assistant Andrew Coles told the Reporter. "It was a new level of unhinged — a level of lack of control that I had never seen before in a workplace."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This was just one of a number of alleged incidents described in the article. A former executive coordinator for Rudin's company also recalled him throwing "a glass bowl at [a colleague]" and an HR person leaving "in an ambulance due to a panic attack," while a recent assistant said he threw a "big potato" at his head. Yet another former staffer, who served as Rudin's executive assistant, said he left the industry entirely after the mistreatment, which allegedly included Rudin throwing a stapler at an assistant and calling him a "retard."
"Every day was exhausting and horrific," that former executive assistant said, while the former executive coordinator also said, "Everyone just knows he's an absolute monster."
The Reporter notes that Rudin's "tantrums" have been "documented going back four decades" but that despite this, his "behavior has continued unabated" in Hollywood. Rudin, who has produced films like No Country for Old Men and The Social Network, didn't offer a comment for the article on any of the allegations. Read the full piece at The Hollywood Reporter.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
11 hotels opening in 2026 to help you reconnect with natureThe Week Recommends Find peace on the beaches of Mexico and on a remote Estonian island
-
Zimbabwe’s driving crisisUnder the Radar Southern African nation is experiencing a ‘public health disaster’ with one of the highest road fatality rates in the world
-
The Mint’s 250th anniversary coins face a whitewashing controversyThe Explainer The designs omitted several notable moments for civil rights and women’s rights
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
