Brett Ratner will not face action from Academy following gay slur

Update: Brett Ratner has since resigned as producer of the 2012 Academy Awards. Read Digital Spy's full report here.

Brett Ratner will not face any action from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after his controversial comments last week.

The director, who is producing next year's Oscars telecast, was criticised for remarks he made while promoting his latest film Tower Heist.

Ratner had said: "Rehearsal? What's that? Rehearsal's for f*gs."

Ratner later apologised for the use of the gay slur after media monitoring organisation GLAAD condemned him.

AMPAS President Tom Sherak backed Ratner, stating that he believes his apology was genuine.

"His remarks were inappropriate," Sherak told Deadline. "He said it best in his apology, that his comments were dumb and insensitive.

"When you think of our community, it went against all the beliefs of the creative community we represent. He knew it was wrong and he issued that response as quickly as any human being ever has. The bottom line is, this won't and can't happen again. It will not happen again.

"He apologised and we will move forward. How do I know this? I've known this man for a very long time. He has many friends who are members of the gay and lesbian community. The apology he gave I truly believe comes from his heart. If I didn't believe it, I would do something about it.

"This is about integrity and honouring the Academy Awards, but we all make mistakes and I believe he didn't mean it.

Tower Heist's Eddie Murphy will serve as the host of next year's Academy Awards.

Watch Brett Ratner make the controversial remark below (at 2:40):