Olivia Munn Says Fox Was ‘Silent for Two Days’ After She Reported ‘The Predator’ Sex Offender

“The Predator” arrives in theaters largely as intended next week, with one exception: Steven Wilder Striegel’s scene with Olivia Munn was cut following the revelation that he’s on Connecticut’s sex-offender registry. In a new Variety interview, Munn says her initial effort to inform 20th Century Fox of this news was met with silence: “When I called, [Fox] was silent for two days. I did have to reach out again and say I didn’t feel comfortable presenting at the MTV Awards with Keegan [Michael Key] unless this guy was out of it.”

“I’m not saying they weren’t working on it behind the scenes,” Munn continues. “I just didn’t hear anything about it. But I’m happy that they did obviously because I’m proud of the work we did in this movie, we all worked really, really hard, and I wouldn’t be able to morally stand behind this movie with this guy in there.”

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

Director Shane Black, who knows Striegel, has since apologized for casting him. “Having read this morning’s news reports, it has sadly become clear to me that I was misled by a friend I really wanted to believe was telling me the truth when he described the circumstances of his conviction,” he said in a statement of his own. “I believe strongly in giving people second chances — but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped.”