Allegations of workplace abuse and misconduct are once again swirling around mega-producer Scott Rudin. For its April 7 cover story, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed a handful of former Rudin assistants and employees, delving deep into myriad allegations of misconduct and abuse they faced while working at his behest. Former Rudin assistant turned Queen & Slim producer Andrew Coles, for instance, recalls an incident in which Rudin allegedly broke an Apple computer monitor on an assistant’s hand, sending them to the emergency room.

“We knew a lot could happen,” Coles told THR. “There were the guys that were sleeping in the office, the guys whose hair was falling out and were developing ulcers. It was a very intense environment, but that just felt different. It was a new level of unhinged—a level of lack of control that I had never seen before in a workplace.” 

Rumors regarding Rudin’s allegedly tyrannical and abusive behavior are not new. The EGOT-winning producer, whose films have amassed a shocking 151 Oscar nominations and 23 wins, as well as 17 individual Tony Awards, has long been the subject of horror stories regarding allegedly toxic and abusive workplace behavior. In 2014, Page Six ran an article about Rudin, with the title “The Man Known as Hollywood’s Biggest A-hole,” which alleged that Rudin had pushed assistants out of moving cars and fired assistants for bringing him the wrong muffin, mispronouncing names, and, at least in one instance, having to attend a funeral. An earlier indictment of Rudin’s alleged behavior appeared in the 2011 Atlantic article “The Four Types of Scott Rudin Temper Tantrums,” which claimed that Rudin had run through 119 assistants in five years and had a penchant for throwing inanimate objects when he was upset—which was allegedly often.

April’s Hollywood Reporter cover story adds more color and on-the-record names to stories about Rudin’s alleged fits of rage, describing multiple incidents in which Rudin is accused of hurling inanimate objects at various former employees. In one instance, Rudin allegedly threw a teacup, which shattered and left a hole in the wall. Another instance allegedly saw the temperamental producer throw a baked potato at a former assistant. 

“I went into the kitchen, and I was like, ‘Hey, Scott, A24 is on the way up. I’m not sure what it’s concerning,’” the assistant told THR. “And he flipped out, like, ‘Nobody told me A24 was on my schedule.’ He threw it at me, and I dodged a big potato. He was like, ‘Well, find out and get me a new potato.’”  

Beyond hurling potatoes, Rudin would allegedly “soft fire” his employees. Those who upset Rudin would often respond to a dismissal from the fickle producer by reportedly waiting in a Starbucks until Rudin had “cooled off,” then return to the office to beg for their job back. Rudin’s executive assistant from 2018 to 2019, Ryan Nelson, told THR that Rudin once threw a stapler at a theater assistant and called him “a retard.” Caroline Rugo, a former executive coordinator at Scott Rudin Productions, recalled Rudin throwing laptops at conference room windows, banging on bathroom soap dispensers, and hurling glass bowls in the general direction of her colleagues. 

Years after Harvey Weinstein’s reckoning and the rebirth of the #MeToo movement, once off-the-record rumors about Rudin’s alleged behavior are now on-the-record allegations from former employees like Nelson and Rugo. “I got fired for having Type 1 diabetes, which is a federally protected disability,” said Rugo, who now works in development at Netflix and called Rudin “an absolute monster.”

Through a spokesperson, Rudin declined to comment on any of the specific allegations lodged against him in the The Hollywood Reporter story.

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