It was recently revealed that a scene had to be abruptly cut from The Predator movie. This was due to the revelation that one of the actors cast for a small part in the movie is a registered sex offender, and his status wasn’t revealed to anyone on set. The director, Shane Black, knew about Steven Wilder Striegel’s conviction and cast him on the quiet to help him out, the two have been friends for 14 years. Following the news, the director provided a public apology, but actress Olivia Munn doesn’t accept it.
On Thursday, The Times' @amykinla reported that Twentieth Century Fox pulled a scene after director Shane Black cast his friend, a registered sex offender https://t.co/wnq62aoRh3
Today at #TIFF18 Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes & Augusto Aguilera addressed the controversy with us pic.twitter.com/4qmv4lv7dI
— LAT Entertainment (@latimesent) September 8, 2018
Olivia Munn was acting alongside Striegel in the now cut scene, and she was the actress that found out about his conviction, which involved an online relationship with a 14 year old girl. Upon finding out about the incident, Munn alerted 20th Century Fox who decided to cut his scene from the movie.
Shane Black has been casting Striegel in a few small parts in his movies since the 2010 conviction. Not only did he give him a role in The Predator, but he concealed the actor’s sexual offender status from everyone else working on the project. At first the director defended his actions by stating that he was trying to give his friend a second chance, however in his apology he claimed that he was unaware of the severity of his Striegel’s crime.
In response to Shane Black’s apology, Olivia Munn had this to say:
“I don’t accept Shane’s apology. It wasn’t given to me personally… A real apology has to be done privately, not just read publicly and I read it with the rest of the world. Whatever small amount of power or fame that I’ve created, I’m not willing to share it with someone like that. And if Shane wants to share his platform and his power with someone like that, that’s on him. But I deserve to make that choice for myself.”
Shane Black has yet to respond to the statements made by Olivia Munn, and to claims that he did know the exact nature of his friend’s conviction. This situation has certainly stirred up a lot of controversy in the lead up to the release of The Predator, but we will just have to wait and see how damaging it becomes to the movie’s success.
The Predator will be released on September 14.
Do you think this will affect the movie’s success? Let us know in the comments.