Olivia Munn found out she had worked with a convicted sex offender & got his scene cut

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Olivia Munn is starring in the fourth Predator movie, a sequel that’s out next week. The LA Times reported yesterday that Munn learned just a month ago that she had worked on the film with a convicted sex offender, a man named Steve Striegel, who was a friend of director Shane Black. Black thought he was giving his good buddy another chance by casting him in the film, in scenes in which the sex offender hit on Olivia Munn’s character. Munn brought the issue up to the film studio, Twentieth Century Fox, which cut Striegel’s scene right before it was set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Respect.

Twentieth Century Fox was just days away from locking picture on “The Predator” when an urgent note came in: Delete the scene featuring Steven Wilder Striegel.

Striegel, 47, didn’t have a big role in his longtime friend Shane Black’s reboot of the sci-fi thriller — just a three-page scene shared with actress Olivia Munn.

But last month, Munn learned that Striegel is a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 2010 after facing allegations that he attempted to lure a 14-year-old female into a sexual relationship via the internet. When Munn shared the information with Fox on Aug. 15, studio executives quickly decided to excise him from the movie.

“Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel’s background when he was hired,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors…”

Striegel served six months in jail after pleading guilty to two felonies — risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer. The first role he landed after his release was in Black’s 2013 film, “Iron Man 3.” Three years later, he got another part in one of the filmmaker’s projects, the crime caper “The Nice Guys.” In 2016, Black told GQ that he was planning to produce a heist film “by my friend Steve Wilder.”

Black defended his decision to cast Striegel in a small part in “The Predator” as a jogger who repeatedly hits on Munn’s character.

“I personally chose to help a friend,” Black said in a written statement to The Times. “I can understand others might disapprove, as his conviction was on a sensitive charge and not to be taken lightly.”

But he said he has long believed that Striegel was “caught up in a bad situation versus something lecherous.”

Munn said she found it “both surprising and unsettling that Shane Black, our director, did not share this information to the cast, crew, or Fox Studios prior to, during, or after production.”

“However,” she continued, “I am relieved that when Fox finally did receive the information, the studio took appropriate action by deleting the scene featuring Wilder prior to release of the film.”

[From The LA Times]

There is an extremely high burden of proof on convicting these offenders. This POS was found guilty and served six months for his crimes and yet his buddy believed his bullsh-t excuses and thought he deserved a part in a major film. The argument usually made on behalf of abusers is the old “they were never convicted and tried.” Well this person was found guilty but outlets are still printing his lies and explanations as if they’re valid. Imagine if Olivia Munn had less clout and influence and if she was just a newcomer who refused to work with this abhorrent man. She would be the one getting fired, not him. We saw this same scenario play out with Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK and more. Women have their careers ruined when they speak out about being assaulted and yet we’re the ones blamed for not saying anything, for not saying enough, for wearing the wrong outfit or being in the wrong place.

Munn’s tweets about this really show the conviction and general bada-ery this must have required to speak up and stick to her guns. I’m embedding a few below and there are more on her Twitter page.

Also, Munn deserves props so I’m not going to focus too much on the fact that she looks like an extra on Deadwood at the TIFF premiere of The Predator.
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This is what she wore to a photocall. Those are pants.
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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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28 Responses to “Olivia Munn found out she had worked with a convicted sex offender & got his scene cut”

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  1. TQ says:

    Glad she has this type of clout now, after all these years as a working actor.

    But jeez, she needs to stop messing with her face! She’s becoming unrecognizable.

    • whatWHAT? says:

      yeah, her face in that blue flowered suit is REALLY WEIRD, esp the over the shoulder shot.

      she was very pretty to start so it’s a shame that she’s altering her face so much. AND LYING ABOUT IT. weseeyou.

      having said that, I am really impressed and happy with what she’s done here. good for you Liv, just stop messing with your face.

  2. Annaloo. says:

    Thank you Olivia!

  3. Kerfuffle says:

    Luring a 14 year old girl via the internet is a huge deal, there’s no mis-understanding. It’s incredibly disappointing that Black would do that – I understand wanting to support a friend, but it’s clear that Black didn’t consider his crime particularly heinous. And helping him get back into the movie biz could have serious consequences down the line, considering the constant access to young women in the business.

    All that to say, F you Shane.

  4. Jess says:

    Fashion taste aside – good for her. And her tweet about not being given the choice as to whether she wanted to work with this guy or not is great. Black is totally misrepresenting how bad those emails were too. Yet again, it’s the abusers who get protected.

  5. LooseSeal says:

    Wow good for her. I’m so disappointed in Shane Black though. His statement is some next level rape culture nonsense. I really enjoy his work and he seems like a nice guy, but it just goes to show you how deep misogyny runs in our culture.

    • Mia4s says:

      Honestly f**k Shane Black. That was a gross response. And while I’ve enjoyed some of his work, someone pointed yesterday he repeatedly has a scene in his films with the female unconscious while men are perving on her just a bit. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, and this film too apparently. That, plus this statement has me side-eyeing the hell out of him. Another bro with woman-issues.

  6. RspbryChelly says:

    I had (have) a habit of googling people. Colleagues, people I just met, a random Jane or Joe I happened upon. So one day I was at work and thought I haven’t googled Joe & we’ve worked together for about 8 months. I never actually expected to stumble upon anything cause I never really found any information on anyone but this on day his name just popped up w so many matches I was like whoa. But he also didn’t have an uncommon name so I figured, it could be anyone. I then started scrolling for a mugshot and boom, there it was. Turns out this guy had done 5 – 6 yrs for possession of child porn. Ugh. I was so sick after that & HATED that I had to work near him..I took the photos of my nieces off my desk & only kept my conversations work related moving forward. There’s some things I could “overlook”…that will never be one of them. It made me nervous but even more vigilant on googling people there after. You just never f*king know

    • lucy2 says:

      OMG, that is awful. Hope you don’t have to work with him anymore.

      “due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors…” This sounds like a load of bullshirt to me – why can’t they run background checks? And if they truly legally can’t…google. Like you did. How hard could it be to have an intern or somebody low level run names on the lesser known cast to make sure there’s nothing embarrassing at best, horrific at worst lurking there.

      I’m really proud of Olivia here – she did the right thing, stood up for herself and others, at some personal risk.

  7. Erinn says:

    I know it’s hard to separate the people you know and the way they treat you from the way they treat other people. But I think it’s something everyone really needs to consider.

    I 100% trust my husband. He is one of the most amazing, honest, hard working people I know. He’s just GOOD. I’ve known him since we were 12, we’ve been in a relationship since the 9th grade, and are pretty inseparable. I’m incredibly INCREDIBLY protective when anyone tries to take advantage of his kindness – which unfortunately happens from time to time. But if someone came to me and said “look your husband assaulted me” regardless of how much I adore this man, and how much I don’t think he has an evil bone in his body – I’m going to hear that person out. Because the only person I can be 100% responsible for and know the thought process behind actions is myself. I mean – if it was an obvious lie and I was with him at the exact time that they’re saying he had done something, that would be different. But I’d still listen to what they had to say, and take that into consideration.

    I just don’t understand how there’s so many news reports out there of friends or family of someone who murdered or assaulted someone and they’re like “oh he was such a good boy! He was NEVER like that” and it’s just like – well no shit. Of course they put on a show for the people in their inner circle as much as possible. And of course your toddler wasn’t running around stabbing people. But it’s just impossible to fully know someone’s thoughts. And a lot of the time there are a lot of red flags even for the friends and family – but because of positive experiences with them, humans have a tendency to brush the little things off. Denial is a powerful thing.

    Ultimately though – good for Olivia. I’m glad she did this.

  8. HelloSunshine says:

    Thank you Olivia for calling this out and I’m so glad the studio took it seriously. This is really disgusting and Shane Black should be held accountable for bringing that man onto the movie set and for not letting people know so they could make the decision of whether or not it was comfortable for them.

  9. AppleTartin says:

    I would like to understand this statement “We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors…”

    Is this a block the Union but on studios? What’s the impede? Whatever it is it needs to be removed. Acting puts both men and women in venerable situations on set. If Dog walkers are vetted so should actors and crew above and below the line.

  10. Pandy says:

    Dude must have dirt on that creep. Good for her – AWESOME for her to call him out. Perv … no place to hide!

  11. Helen says:

    Her poor face. She was so pretty to begin with… why?!

    • NOTus says:

      I don’t get it either. She rly looked beautiful before the whole face fiasco. There was no need for that.

  12. BANANIE says:

    Good for Olivia. It must have been hard for her to stand up — she’s a household name, but I don’t think I’d consider her a top-billed actress. She took a risk.

    Also…Shane Black thought it would be a good idea to cast this predator in a movie literally called “Predator” ?? I know it’s about aliens or whatever, but seriously? Guess he was positive none of this would ever come out.

  13. Beer&Crumpets says:

    Wow, she’s ballsy a f. GOOD FOR HER for speaking up… I’m glad she didn’t get treated like an asshole.

  14. Jay (the Canadian one) says:

    Article says “pleaded guilty” not “found guilty”. I agree with the outcome. It’s just that Celebitchy’s “high burden of proof” argument doesn’t apply if it never got to the point of examining evidence because he preemptively pleaded guilty. Nonetheless a guilty plea should be treated as no less guilty just because it was voluntary.

    • Pandy says:

      Why would you volunteer to plead guilty to child luring charges if you weren’t guilty? Or plead guilty to anything if you aren’t guilty? Maybe I’m not reading your remarks correctly.

  15. Jumpingthesnark says:

    Props to her. Ive never seen any of her stuff but will moving forward.

  16. Lilly says:

    Thank you, Olivia!!!

  17. sa says:

    I’m conflicted about things like this, because I do fundamentally believe that if you are convicted of a crime and serve your time (even if I think it should be more time), then you’ve paid your debt to society and should be given the opportunity to move on and be a productive part of society.

    Having said that, there are some types of crimes, including this one, that I think are unforgiveable and challenge my general belief.

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      It if were some other type of crime, maybe. Or if it was a different employer. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 things that make it so bad under these specific facts: First, there are at least 2 child actors in this movie. Usually sex offenders (especially when a minor was the target of their crime) are barred from certain jobs and locations where they come into contact with children. Second, the movie industry has a long history of ignoring sexual abuse and sexual harassment within its productions. This is NOT the right industry, at least not at this time, to be opening its doors as a place for sex offenders to be rehabilitated. And third, actors often have “off duty” standards of conduct because movies can’t afford the bad publicity. I don’t doubt Ms. Munn has some type of language in her contract that holds her to some standards of decency — so why should she be forced to work with an attempted child rapist just because the guy is the director’s friend?

      • Mrs.Krabapple says:

        I just wanted to add a fourth reason after looking up this story on news sites — the specific role this guy was playing in the movie was a jogger who repeatedly hits on Ms. Munn’s character. That specific role for a convicted sex offender is just . . . wrong. And it explains why Ms. Munn was understandably upset that Shane Black didn’t bother to tell her ahead of time.

  18. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    Good for her!

    But sadly, I’ll bet all the toxic males on the internet will turn this around and make HER the villain, for trying to take away the livelihood of some poor white male who already paid his debts to society and just wants a fresh start. Look at how many of them think Disney is the villain for firing James Gunn. I only hope the sane, decent people in Hollywood don’t cave in and let this wave of reform die out.

  19. tale says:

    Not to be the annoying bitch here, but its her face yall. Sure she was a very pretty woman to begin with, but she looks good still, and if she wants to change her face,god bless her. I understand being annoyed @ her for lying about it though.
    Anyways, I love her for it. I’m so glad she stood up. I’m satisfied the studio took her in consideration instead of shaming her. THIS is how you use your influence. I will check some of her work for sure.
    And Iron Man 3 sucked ass. I didnt watch anything else by Shane Black, and surely will never do. Fuck him

  20. launicaangelina says:

    She’s a bad-ass and it’s wonderful she spoke up!

  21. ca$h munny says:

    The people who work to keep predators in the community are effectively the same as the guys who tried to hold legalize rape rallies a while back. You working to make sure there are no consequences for abuse means you are working to make it effectively legal. Lainey said the industry is internally styling themselves freedom fighters for not blacklisting predators, but guess what, that makes you the gd Catholic Church. Anyway, Olivia Munn is the Reverse Tarantino warrior we need in these a-maze-ing daze.