Olivia Munn Says Fox ‘Chastised’ Her For Telling ‘Predator’ Costars About Sex Offender, Wanted Her to Keep Quiet
Zack Sharf
Olivia Munn is continuing to speak out about “The Predator” casting scandal, in which director Shane Black hired a registered sex offender to appear opposite the actress in a brief scene. Munn appeared on the September 11 episode of “Ellen” and revealed she received pushback from 20th Century Fox after the studio found out she had notified her costars about the sex offender casting.
Munn explained she was told by an acquaintance that her scene partner, actor Steven Wilder Striegel, was a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in 2010 to luring a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship on the internet. Munn told Ellen DeGeneres she didn’t know her acquaintance well enough to know if he or she would report the news, so she decided to tell 20th Century Fox herself.
As has been previously reported, Fox edited out the scene featuring Striegel. Munn revealed to DeGeneres the news about Striegel shocked her and she didn’t want her costars on “The Predator” to be similarly blindsided, which is the main reason she reached out to notify them. Fox allegedly took issue with the actress informing her costars about Striegel, according to Munn.
“It was going to be something that got out there, so I wanted to give my costars a heads up so that they wouldn’t be blindsided like I was,” Munn told DeGeneres. “When I did call my costars, I got chastised the next day by the studio for telling them and ‘Why am I just not keeping it quiet? It’s all going to be okay. It got deleted. What’s the big deal?’ And I said, ‘Well, it happened.'”
Munn’s latest revelation follows her claim that Fox stayed quiet for two days after she initially reported Striegel’s history as a registered sex offender. The actress told DeGeneres that it never scared her to speak out about the casting despite the fact she is a main cast member in “The Predator.”
“I think that people expected me to be quiet because it’s my movie, but the truth is I don’t care,” she said. “I don’t care if this movie gave me all the money in the world and all the power. If it cost one person’s life, they can take it. I don’t want this career.”
“The Predator” opens nationwide September 14. When asked for a statement, a representative for the studio declined to comment. Watch Munn’s full appearance on “Ellen” in the video below.
