Olivia Munn earned so much respect when she spoke out against the director of The Predator hiring his friend, a convicted sex offender who served time, to star in a scene with her. She reached out to the studio and was able to get the sex offender’s scene in the film cut right before it was released. Olivia was initially shunned by her male costars for this, who bailed on press with her rather than answer questions about it and who never got back to her when she reached out to them. They lent their support to the director, Shane Black, with their actions. It was only after the press covered this extensively and the public was on her side that Olivia was vindicated. She consistently said that it was her duty to speak out and that she didn’t care if it affected her career because we should care about the victim. Well the victim of this man, who was just 14 when she was assaulted but is now in her 20s, came out publicly to thank Olivia. She is definitely making a difference.
In a new cover story interview with Cosmopolitan UK, Olivia repeated some of the things she said during her press tour, that her convictions are more important to her than her career, and that she knows she did the right thing. I am so impressed by her.
Her mom’s advice about bullies to her growing up
“You can’t make these girls go away. All you can do is make yourself stronger. Don’t care about what they think. Do what you want to do for yourself.”How she felt at the beginning of MeToo
“I remember where I was when I heard that people were getting outraged about Weinstein and I thought, ‘People care? They didn’t used to care, nobody cared.”On standing up to Brett Ratner after he publicly smeared her
“He was doing this at a time when men were allowed to say that[…] People want to think that women use their sexuality to get ahead in any business, not just Hollywood. There’s that unfair stigma.” Munn took to Twitter in an effort to dispel the rumours, and didn’t regret it. “All I wanted was for him to clear my name. He muddied it and I wanted him to clear it…So I went on to Twitter and I handled it in the only way I could. It was going to be a moral victory for me in that at least I’d stood up for myself.”On speaking up about the sex offender hired for The Predator
“I’m not for sale… If speaking up costs me my career, I don’t want it anyway.”
[From Cosmopolitan UK via The Daily Mail]
I feel this way, that my convictions are more important than money and that if I follow them and am true to myself things will work out for the best. That’s why we run this site the way we do, because we can’t stay silent when fascism, racism and antisemitism are thriving and when US leaders are regularly lying. We are not going to act like this is normal when it’s so obviously not. I can’t say that I would be as outspoken if I wasn’t my own boss though, this is definitely a privilege I have and one most women and most workers do not. That’s why I admire Olivia. She risked so much to speak out and she’s a badass.
Also, did you guys see this article in the LA Times about the sexual harassment an actress faced on set and the astronomical lengths she had to go to in order to be heard? She did absolutely everything right and kept having to jump through hoops. Times Up and her union, SAG-AFTRA, were mildly helpful but both made her do so much work to report the violation without any resolution. The incident happened in May of this year.
Olivia posted some photos from Cosmo UK. More celebrity photoshoots should feature pets for adoption. This is a great idea!
This is Olivia in Prabal Gurung at the “Time for Heroes Family Festival” to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. Can I have that dress in green please? She is working the hell out of it.
Photos credit: WENN.com
I left two jobs because of values, principles and ethics. I’m now in my mid-sixties and feeling the financial pain mightily. Sometimes I regret not being able to accept ‘business as business’. I continue in my determination that good business can also be righteous, fair, true and have a social conscience now I am self-employed. But I’m not earning anywhere near what others in my industry are earning…..there’s always a price to pay. She’s even more awesome to me now than in News Room 🙂 Still missing Sloane!
Wow, props. I have been struggling with unemployment, lack of food, lack of stable home for YEARS because I left my job over ethical objections. It absolutely never pays to have integrity, but I would not hesitate to quit again if I had a do-over. I should have quit sooner, but frankly, I was really hungry. :/
she’s one of the ONLY women whose actions back up their words of “support” the rest will spew fancy PR buzzwords of solidarity but turn around and enable/support/defend/ignore the abuse happening all around them just for thirst/awards. good for her. she is willing to take the risk fora greater good. imagine if all the rest of the pretend allies did the same? then real change would be the only outcome
“imagine if all the rest of the pretend allies did the same? then real change would be the only outcome”
So true, well said. Nothing but kudos to Munn.
So much respect for her.
Will now go out of my way to watch her in anything to support her back
I, too, am so in awe of Olivia. She has some massive ovaries.
I kind of thought she was vaguely annoying. I have a new found respect. Plus puppies! I love that she is posing with adoptable puppies!
She also has a video on vogue.com in which she explains ICE and the border separations.
I thought it was brave when Gretchen Mol came out and stood up for herself after those misogynistic false allegations had been made against her, and I find the way Olivia Munn did it- standing up to Brett Ratner- even braver. Under patriarchy, men telling these stories about women are often given the benefit of the doubt by both sexes over the women in those stories, because men and women are so violently and smugly eager to see sexuality used against women and girls (especially those they dislike to begin with). A woman’s denial is automatically read as a lie, especially if she would dare to show any kind of emotion. She gets to be considered ‘guilty until proven innocent’, while whatever guy, gossip, etc, telling the story gets to be uncritically accepted as a Truth-Telling Realist with the balls to call out a wh0re/thot etc., and with no possible skeletons in his closet. This all works out quite nicely for different types of abusers and creeps, in the long run. Girls and women are regularly treated as sub-human fictional characters-usually antagonists- for ‘Real Pipo’ to project whatever violating, conservative garbage they want onto with little thought. So it takes some level of courage for a woman to be open about the fact that it’s wrong, it’s bullshit, and she doesn’t deserve it or have to keep quiet about it.
Yass! All of this!
Also, thanks Celebitchy for linking that LAtimes article. I have never heard Scott’s story. It’s pretty clear real change has to come from the legal process.
How about we flip the switch and go with “traumatized until proven not” rather than “not guilty until proven otherwise.” I hate that the burden is always on women in all situations, every time.
After Sigorney Weaver…BROKE MY HEART WITH HER ROMAN POLANSKI STANCE THIS WEEK…Seriously…I just…WHEW…I JUST CAN’T WITH THAT! Seeing Olivia AGAIN…live in her truth OUT LOUD…makes me SO HAPPY!!!! And yes…she is WERKING THE HELL OUTTA OF THAT DAMN DRESS!!!!
It hurts seeing so many women from that generation be so blasée about sexual assault. And against children too! Many are conditioned that way though. Especially Hollywood and the entertainment industry in the 70s, where nearly everyone either witnessed or participated in criminal behavior.
Olivia is a total badass. We saw Predator because she was in it, and she was really good in it too.
I wanted to see Predator because of her but decided to wait until on TV. I was NOT going to reward bad behaviour (i.e., asshole male actors & Shane Black director) with my money. I will however support all Olivia Munn movies in the future. I’m a women in my 50’s and I am sick & tired of men being rewarded (e.g., Bryan Singer et al) over and over again after such excruciatingly bad behaviour. F**k the patriarchy!
I’ve always thought she was a major nothingburger as an actress and never gave her much thought. I am pleasantly surprised to discover that she seems to be a decent, emotionally mature human being. We could use more of those in Hollywood. And on Earth.
She has totally won me over. Glad she is using her voice to speak for those of us who feel the same way! I look forward to seeing her in more roles.
Olivia was my favorite character on Newsroom. It’s SUCH a fantastic show!!! I appreciate everything she said in the article and how she is standing up for what’s right!!
I’m with her!