Today in Hollywood Harassment: More Piven and Hoffman Accusers, Brett Ratner Sues, Kevin Spacey Seeks Treatment

Allegations against Harvey Weinstein that led to the public downfall of the entertainment mogul spearheaded the current environment of exposing the inappropriate behavior of those in power in Hollywood. Dozens of women and men, including Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, have come forward in with stories of sexual harassment perpetrated by several entertainment heavy-hitters.

Here's the latest:

A second woman has come forward after Anna Graham Hunter's guest column in The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday accusing Hoffman of harassing her when she was 17. Television screenwriter and producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis detailed the alleged 1991 harassment in a statement to Variety.

Gatsiounis described the incident as happening during a pitch meeting with Hoffman and "Tootsie" screenwriter Murray Schisgal for adapting her stage play "A Darker Purpose" into a feature film. This meeting never even got off the ground, according to Gatsiounis. "[Hoffman] says, 'Before you start, let me ask you one question, Wendy — have you ever been intimate with a man over 40?'

"He moves back, he opens his arms, and he says, 'It would be a whole new body to explore,'" she continued. "I'm trying to go back to my pitch, and I'm trying to talk about my play. Then Dustin Hoffman gets up and he says he has to do some clothing shopping at a nearby hotel, and did I want to come along?"

Gatsiounis said that Schisgal encouraged her to go with Hoffman, but she declined multiple times. Hoffman eventually left, according to her story, followed quickly by Shisgal who told her, "We're not really interested in your play, because it's too film noir-ish."

Hoffman has not responded to these allegations, but Schisgal told Variety, "Dustin Hoffman and I took many meetings with writers and playwrights over many years. I have no recollection of this meeting or of any of the behavior or actions described."

While alluding to unspecified sexual harassment by Jeremy Piven toward her, "Longmire" actress Cassidy Freeman took to Instagram to defend "Entourage" actress Ariane Bellamar's claims of sexual harassment and misconduct by the "Wisdom of the Crowd" star.

"You will deny this because, sadly, she's deniable," Freeman wrote of Bellamar on Instagram Wednesday night. "Whether or not her accusations are true, the TRUTH is I know you. I know what you did and attempted to do to me when I was far too young. THAT I know. And you know it too. Unless there were so many of us, that you can't remember."

According to Freeman, it's about power for Piven. "Predatory behavior is a chronic way for you to seek power," she wrote. "Do you feel powerful? With your lawyers and your networks and your die hard man-fans who call your victims bimbos? Or do you know, in your rotten gut, that you will have to lie for the rest of your life?"

Piven responded to Bellamar's allegations in a statement reading, "I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me. It did not happen. It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward with their histories, and my hope is that the allegations about me that didn't happen, do not detract from stories that should be heard." He has not responded to Freeman's comments.

On Oct. 20, Melanie Kohler posted on Facebook that Brett Ratner "was a rapist on at least one night in Hollywood about 12 years ago." Ratner then filed a libel lawsuit against Kohler in Hawaii on the same day that six women came forward with sexual harassment allegations against the director, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.

Ratner's attorney, Martin Singer, denied the allegations. "I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment," he said in a statement.

According to Kohler, Ratner "preyed on me as a drunk girl [and] forced himself upon me." The suit contends her statement is "entirely false, fabricated and fictional," further asserting that it was published "with knowledge of its falsity, maliciously, and with the intent to harm [Ratner's] reputation and standing."

In the wake of the allegations against Ratner, Playboy halted development on a Hugh Hefner biopic starring Jared Leto, who has left the project entirely, and Warner Bros. has severed ties with the director.

After multiple allegations of sexual harassment have surfaced over the past several days, including "Star Trek" Beyond" actor Anthony Rapp alleging Spacey made a sexual advance on him when he was 14 years old, the "House of Cards" star is seeking treatment, according to his publicist.

"Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment," the publicist said in a brief statement, though no details were given as to where and what kind of treatment Spacey may be seeking.

Beyond the accusations from Rapp, many accusations of harassment have come from Spacey's time as artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London, a position he held for more than a decade, until 2015. The Old Vic has set up an email address for anyone to make a confidential complaint about any inappropriate behavior experienced, though former employees have suggested the theater knew about Spacey's behavior and turned a blind eye.

In the wake of these accusations, production on the sixth -- and now final -- season of "House of Cards" has been suspended indefinitely by Netflix.

The topic of Harvey Weinstein and the ongoing sexual misconduct scandal in Hollywood came up during a Hollywood Reporter producers' roundtable, where some of the town's most successful filmmakers suggested the underlying problem is much larger than has been exposed and has been kept quiet with large sums of cash.

"There is a culture of paying off people," writer-director-producer Judd Apatow said. "If you're sexually inappropriate with somebody, they think, 'Oh, if I speak up, am I suddenly a pain in the ass to everyone else in show business and I'll never work again?' And then Harvey's like, 'Here's 150 grand, and I won't mention it to anybody.' That's why it lasts for decades, because it's like a perfect system."

He said that it's up to the insiders who know about these kinds of deals to step forward. "Someone was writing those checks and somebody knew and those people on the inside, when they're quiet also, it goes on for decades and decades."

Seth Rogen added that there is a sense in Hollywood that's this just the way it is. "People just keep working with them," he said of known sexual harassers like Weinstein. "Because they're just like, 'Well, it's a necessary evil. It's what you got to do,'"

Film producer and former Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal suggested that one reason this issue hasn't been addressed much before now is because it's not uncommon in the industry.

"No, I don't think that he is an outlier," she said of Weinstein. "And I think that's probably why a lot of people haven't spoken up, because I don't think that you can throw bricks at glass houses. ... The women who stood up have to be applauded because that's really, really hard to do when nobody wants to stand up, and the silence is deafening. That's the part that we're responsible for."

"There is a kind of a wink and an acceptance of that type of behavior," Rogen said while talking about his own decision to distance himself professionally from Weinstein a decade ago.

Rogen further said that this acceptance within the industry has helped shelter those acting inappropriately. "A lot of Hollywood people also like the fact that we work in a business that doesn't have the same rules as other businesses," he said. "And they're kind of free to have varying personalities. That ultimately also allows people to excuse a lot of horribly inappropriate behavior that shouldn't be acceptable."