Director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) has stepped down as producer of the 2012 Academy Awards due to uproar in the entertainment industry following a series of derogatory remarks the director has made during his press tour on behalf of his recently released film, Tower Heist.

The Brett Ratner controversy began last week with his comments about actress Olivia Munn while on the G4TV:

“I used to date Olivia Munn, I’ll be honest with everyone here. But when she was ‘Lisa.’ She wasn’t Asian back then. She was hanging out on my set of After the Sunset, I banged her a few times, but I forgot her.”

These incendiary remarks were met with varied amounts of anger and puzzlement by many in the industry, although Ratner wasn’t in hot water until this weekend, after he uttered an insensitive gay slur during a Q&A in Los Angeles. This report comes via the NY Daily News:

On Friday, the director shocked the audience attending a Q&A session at L.A.’s Arclight Cinemas when the moderator asked whether he rehearses with his actors before shooting a scene.

“Rehearsal is for fags” he allegedly said .

As if the Ratner fiasco couldn’t get any worse, over the weekend he went on the Howard Stern Show in an effort to explain himself. The conversation resulted in further obscenity and controversy, as The LA Times reports:

“[He] embarrassed himself further by discussing all sorts of topics you don’t get to hear about during an Oscar telecast. These included masturbation, cunnilingus, pubic hair, the size of his testicles, his sexual encounter with Lindsay Lohan and, just to be extra classy, how he sends women to his doctor to make sure they don’t have any sexually transmitted diseases “before I go all the way” with them.”

After numerous entertainment outlets and celebrities called for the resignation of Ratner from his post as producer of the 2012 Academy Awards, it was announced by Deadline that he had stepped down.

The Academy then released this statement on the resignation:

Beverly Hills, CA – This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak. Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision.

“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”

Following the announcement, Ratner released an open letter to the entertainment industry, which reads:

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly.

As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments. And they pale in comparison to what any gay, lesbian, or transgender individual must deal with as they confront the many inequalities that continue to plague our world.

So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.

As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. 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.

I am grateful to GLAAD for engaging me in a dialogue about what we can do together to increase awareness of the important and troubling issues this episode has raised and I look forward to working with them. I am incredibly lucky to have a career in this business that I love with all of my heart and to be able to work alongside so many of my heroes. I deeply regret my actions and I am determined to learn from this experience.

Sincerely, Brett Ratner

We think the resignation was important not only to show that these types of actions are unacceptable and very hurtful, but in less obvious terms, the Oscars serve as a celebration of the best the movie industry has to offer, and the association of such actions with this celebration is not to be encouraged. What do you think of these turn of events?