Olivia Munn found out shortly before her movie, The Predator, was set to premiere at TIFF that the director had hired a convicted sex offender to work with her. Olivia had a single scene with the man, who served six months in prison for inappropriate contact and seeking a sexual relationship with a 14 year-old girl. When Olivia found out about the actor’s conviction she reached out to 20th Century Fox, which ultimately pulled the scene but did not contact her about it. Director Shane Black explained in a statement why he hired his friend, apologized and said he was misled about the nature of the man’s conviction, but did not personally contact Olivia. It turns out that none of Olivia’s costars reached out to her or said anything to her about it before the film premiered either. In fact they practically shunned her. The director skipped the TIFF premiere, presumably because of this issue. What’s more is that she contacted everyone to warn them about this, so not only did they not get back to her, they didn’t even talk to her about it. Here’s what Olivia told ET about being ignored after this issue came out in the press.
“[Striegel’s firing] came out on Thursday and the interesting thing is not one of my cast members reached out to me to say ‘Are you ok?’ or ‘thanks’ or anything,” she said, fighting off tears. “At the premiere that night I look over and the other five cast members are giving the director [Shane Black] a standing ovation, but they didn’t even give me a call that day.
“I keep pushing forward and keep going knowing that at least you did the right thing, even if you’re not getting that support. The only reason I’m talking about this publicly when usually I wouldn’t talk about something so personal is because today, in the middle of an interview a cast member walked out and refused to do any more interviews with me because they said questioning when they’re with Olivia is too draining for them… I’m trying not to cry. I’m not crying because I’m sad, it’s a very frustrating feeling to be treated like you’re the one who went to jail for a crime against a child when all I did was the right thing.”
After doing some press with Olivia for the film at TIFF, all of but one of Olivia male costars bailed on their obligations and left Olivia alone hours earlier than they were scheduled to leave on Saturday. I cannot confirm who left, but they may have included Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Jane, Augusto Aguilera and Trevante Rhodes (Note that these are the people I presume bailed based on reports. THR does not specify who was scheduled. The LA Times did get interviews with Aguilera and Rhodes earlier in the day, who were supportive of Olivia before ditching. Keegan Michael Key’s people issued a statement to THR that he had a prior commitment that was prescheduled and that he “reached out to Olivia privately last week,” however that is not consistent with her version.) The only costar who stayed was Jacob Tremblay, the kid from Room who is 11 years old. This says volumes about the culture of the film industry. It’s possible that Fox pulled all the other actors. Here’s some of what she told THR and I would recommend that you watch the video of her interview. She is brave AF.
Munn did show up to THR’s Video Lounge in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, but instead of doing an interview alongside available cast members, Munn was joined only by Tremblay after a few of her fellow actors backed out of scheduled interviews, presumably because of the subject matter of the deleted scene…
Can you walk me through and tell me what the past few days have been like for you after this news came out?
It’s been most tough on the Jane Doe that was in the story because the victim is the victim. Whatever she’s gone through the subsequent years is most important to me. The outpouring of support online and from the media and everyone just validating that it’s the right thing to do has been really uplifting and helps me breathe a little easier. … We’re making movies. We’re not in the mafia. I haven’t spoken against the family. This guy isn’t in our movie anymore. I try to do the right thing and that’s all I can do, and when I see something, you do something. You don’t just sit back and hope it protects your movie. The movie is a great movie, the scene isn’t in there. It’s going to do well. At the end of the day, it’s just a movie. We can’t tell stories about people and not care about people. … There are people who get very mad at you for not just helping them bury it.I saw you tweeted yesterday that you’re contractually obligated to be here but it might help everyone breathe a little easier. How hard has it been walking through this with your cast and with Shane Black?
Well, I haven’t heard from Shane. I did see his apology that he put out. I appreciate the apology. I would have appreciated it more if it was directed toward me privately before it went public and I had to see it online with everyone else. It’s honestly disheartening to have to fight for something so hard that is just so obvious to me. I don’t know why this has to be such a hard fight. I do feel like I’ve been treated by some people that I’m the one who went to jail or I’m the one that put this guy on set. I found out, and I was really important to me to have the scene deleted. When the press found out, they asked for a statement, I gave a statement. I found out those details like everybody else did. It was shocking and disturbing. Now when I’m being asked about it, I don’t know how to lie about it. I don’t know how to pretend, I don’t know how to skirt around the issue. I just know how to be honest about it. It’s a very lonely feeling to be sitting here by myself when I should be sitting here with the rest of the cast.
Olivia said that while she hasn’t had much support from her coworkers she’s getting a ton of support from people online and the people she meets and that it “just means so much.” She explained that there’s no reason for the people in power to change unless there’s pressure from the public and it affects their bottom line.
Also, people have been dragging me personally for taking Olivia’s side in this. I’m with her, I stand with her, and she is brave as f-k for doing this. As she states so well are not two sides to this. I am a fan of hers now.
Trevante Rhodes said earlier, prior to leaving Olivia to do press by herself for whatever reason, that he wasn’t disappointed in the director, but that he “was disappointed in the situation, and I’m happy that Liv spoke up.” Augusto Aguilera said “I thought about the possibility of this continuing to happen, and where it happens — and also to Liv, for speaking up on such a subject, because it takes a lot of courage to be able to say that.”
Follow this thread on Twitter for Sterling K. Brown’s response. He was not at TIFF. He ultimately sides with Olivia but this is somewhat disappointing to me in that he’s making the “both sides” argument, however many people are applauding him for being supportive.
.@oliviamunn I’m sorry you’re feeling so isolated, my dear. And I’m sorry you’ve been the only one to speak up publicly. I was not at #TIFF so I didn’t have an opportunity to be there with you. There are two main issues as far as I see it. First, what is and is not forgivable?… https://t.co/NQQpoO9kPa
— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018
You know who isn’t ambigious about this? Thomas Sadoski, remember him? He’s worked with Olivia but is not in the movie. As of press time, Thomas Jane has not said anything.
💛 @ThomasSadoski Your support means so much. It’s amazing how many people expect you to put the movie first, especially if you’re the lead. On something like this- where a child has been hurt- my silence will never be for sale. And if it costs me my career they can take it.
— om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018
Photos credit: WENN.com, Avalon.red and Getty
This is exactly why Hollywood’s #MeToo movement was not the transformative movement many had pegged it to be. At the end of the day, the culture has not moved even a degree towards positive change, and mostly women will have the most to lose whenever it comes to these issues and speaking out against them.
I am livid that she was treated like that for doing the right thing. Listen up Hollywood, my family, friends, and I have only been spending money on productions with diverse casts, writers, directors, and stories. We DO NOT support projects where the ol’ boys club continues to thrive, regardless how entertaining it may be. Your director knowingly hired someone who went to jail for pedophelia? Nope, will not be watching that movie or any other he participates in, anytime, ever. You treated your female costar shabbily for speaking up and doing the DECENT thing? Nope, I will never watch anything you’re part of ever again unless you acknowledge your mistreatment of her and actively work towards equality in your industry. I don’t care how good your movie or tv show is, if you employ predators then we are not watching it. Not giving you our money. There are so many other projects out there deserving of our time and money. Get your act together. Olivia, I applaud you standing up and continuing to speak. I support you.
And the comments from her costars are sickening. If you think she’s playing this up? Read Sterling K Brown’s tweet. Read Key’s statement. THEY BAILED ON HER.
Olivia Munn went up a billion times in my opinion. I hope her career doesn’t tank, but we all have the sinking feeling it will.
I think that, unfortunately, those who suffer most in Hw are children. Women at least have metoo, what do the children have? judging by this instance, nothing but the target on their backs for all the predators.
Flor C – are you kidding me? She’s gotten attacked online and shunned by most of her colleagues and by her director. She is obviously not playing this for the press, and it’s clear to me that you didn’t read or understand one thing that she said.
Exactly!! You can tell that all the other actors were worried about THEIR bottom line, that this could damage the film. I am 10000000% sure that they are pissed at her for bringing negative attention to it, instead of pretending it didn’t happen. And if the movie doesn’t sell enough, you KNOW they will be blaming Olivia, for making people not see the movie. She will now be the *problem* actor that they don’t want to work with.
And for all the trolls on twitter talking about his debt to society being paid and reintegration, shut the f*ck up! This is not an example of that. Someone who has paid for his crime, a sexual crime, understands the seriousness of it and is reformed doesn’t take a part in a movie playing a man sexually harassing a woman!!!!!! From what he told his friend, the director, he obviously didn’t think was a real crime or something he should be punished for. He could have clearly asked for any other fucking part instead.
Thank you!! Even if we give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he regrets his horrible actions and has spent years trying to make up for them (I don’t think either of those things is true, but whatever), the last character he should ever play is someone making repeated, unwanted sexual advances. He even said in a statement that the character seemed “like a good fit”. JFC, they just don’t get it. Why not give him a job as Third Soldier from the Left who is monster chow by the second act? Still not great, but certainly less egregious.
And by the way, now that I’ve thought about it, why is a jogger who repeatedly hits on one of the only two women in a monster movie even necessary? At a minimum, it’s in poor taste, and if they were playing it for laughs (which seems probable) it’s offensive.
So sorry, the track record for sexual predators is not that they pay their debt and get better. They tend to go back and do it again. You won’t find much evidence for successful treatment. So “paying your debt to society” is a joke in these circumstances. Predators do life-long harm and they get off on it. It’s sickening that our society keeps enabling them.
The fact it is now a media story and that she receives wide public support is the proof that #MeToo keeps going.
Olivia, you are a champion.
Yes – and that her male costars ignoring her is being reported on as well. We’re in the beginning of this, it’s unfortunately going to take time, but this, all of this going public, the offender being cut from the film by the studio, the news reports about it, it’s all progress.
I’m not saying that #MeToo will die out, and I agree that change will be slow. However, until we stop talking about individual offenders and start addressing the systemic rot, #MeToo cannot and will not be fully transformative (as many had pegged it to be).
Yep. About what I expected from Hollywood.
Sterling Brown’s statement was lame and toothless. I’m glad he is in support but he deserves no pats on the back for doing the absolute bare minimum. (“While I don’t know the details of what he did..” Is your Google broken Sterling? 🙄).
But yeah the rest of the costars did a far more horrendous job handling this. While I’d like to say they misread the room (and they misread the public certainly), my guess is they handled this EXACTLY as Hollywood requires and instructs.
Agree about Sterling Brown – his response was very half-assed (I also hate it when grown men refer to women as “dear” or “my dear.” I’ve gone back and forth on Olivia over the years but props to her for speaking out about this – both the original issue and how she’s been treated since she raised the issue. It just goes to show that most people would rather ignore these problems, which leads to more assaults and problematic cultures, than have to spend a few moments in an uncomfortable situation. And how many men will leave themselves out of the situation, leaving women to do all the heavy lifting. Shame on the director and all of her adult co-stars.
I’ve been back and forth too and I cant see the angle where she’s deserving of credit and bravery. This isn’t selfless. She still accepted the interaction with an actor in a scene that didnt have to be there. And just the scene in itself was bad.
Shes discovered a criminal past and exposed it. Not revealing a repeat offender. Not looking into the details or repentance. Just pointing a finger. Telling everyone. Trying to redirect promotion of a movie to spotlight this single event. And I’m wondering if she’s violated some contract issue and why the castmates avoid her.
Also, this messenger… no.
K-Cat in a comment farther down said the man was 39, and grooming his 14 year old niece for a sexual relationship, saying he wanted to have sex with her, and what turned him on, which sounds extremely predatory to me. FLORC, your comment was very interesting to me, thought provoking, and I appreciate the fact that you are honest and opinionated even when you hold the minority opinion. I was touched by “Not looking into details or repentance,” because people DO sometimes transform into better people. But when someone is a predator to a child, that requires extra caution, because it’s often a symptom of deep rooted problems, and you really can’t afford to take chances with any child’s safety. I thought Olivia seemed a bit Joan of Arc-y about it, but I can’t quite figure out why I feel that way. But nevertheless, people’s safety and security should have trumped the director’s friendship with this guy. Also, editing a scene out after it has already been filmed doesn’t really protect anyone, but it does send a message to his victim and to the rest of society: we won’t work with people who are predatory. And that is very affirming to anyone who has had to deal with abuse.
Yeah all of these guys chickened out. Not surprised all the costars were male.
i’m disappointed in Sterling’s response. This IS NOT about them deciding what is “forgivable”. Forgiveness is only for the predator’s victim, should she want it. It’s no one else’s place to forgive him. Olivia, and everyone else, has a right to a safe work environment, which does not include being forced to work with a predator.
@Lucy – Key didn’t chicken out, he’d discussed with Munn privately and wasn’t scheduled for the junket b/c he left TIFF early to get home in time for Rosh Hashana
Johnathan Schaech made some stupid comments on a post about this matter as well so he can stay in has been land as far as I’m concerned
What’s most frustrating are other men chiming in that Munn was wrong to notify the studio or expect to be allowed to express an opinion on him being cast in a role in which she was the only cast member to interact with him.
In not being transparent with the stars of his film or the studio, Black created a PR nightmare that could have been much worse if the scene hadn’t been cut and someone just happened to google Steven Wilder Striegel as Munn did. I bet that every one of those male co-stars (not to mention their managers & publicists) would have been happy if Striegel’s record had been brought up during an interview with them (“hey, in the era of #MeToo how do you guys feel about that bit in the film where the guy keeps hitting on Munn’s character? Did you know the guy playing that part was convicted of grooming a 14yo girl for a sexual relationship?”) Perhaps they, too, would have felt blind-sided by Black. Of course, in reality, it is Munn who would have faced criticism had something like this gone down. She did the studio a favor in notifying them. If I had been a financing partner on any of the movies in which Black cast him, I’d be mighty pissed at the lack of transparency and the potential downstream impact to the return on my investment.
I should also note that the male co-stars who are not being supportive of her are exacerbating the damage of this story instead of mitigating it (and not because of how Munn answered the THR interviewer). If they stood by her & appeared with her during those interviews they could said, “it was a horrible situation, we wish there had been more transparency but we’re glad that the studio did the right thing to cut the scene as soon as Munn notified them so I hope we can move on and focus on the film now”
I should also note that Streigle seems to chalk his conviction up to being just some words in an email. Even Black changed his tune on Streigle’s crime after reading the details about it in the first LA Times report (up until then he bought Streigle’s story that he was just a guy trying to help a kid in a messy family situation and not a lecherous situation as it had been portrayed to get him to plead guilty)
His response was horrible. Calling her “dear” and being very patronizing. Wondering whether an offense can be forgiven — what is the offense he is referring to, is it HER? Because he’s also sorry that she was the only one who spoke out — is he sorry she spoke out at all? And maybe for me the biggest one is, “I’m sorry you’re feeling so isolated” — is if HER FEELINGS are causing the problems. Pretty much EVERY PART of Mr. Brown’s response is offensive.
Edited to add: Here’s a better response he could have sent: “I’m sorry we made you feel isolated. I was not at TIFF, but wish I could have been there to support you when you spoke out.”
Simple.
Quick comment: Thank you (and others here too) for calling how how patronizing and infantilizing the “my dear” here is. I thought it was just me who cringed whenever she hears that.
I’m a big fan of Olivia Munn now. I’m going to watch everything she’s in and consume her products with my cash. I’m uplifted just knowing she/someone would do this and it’s about damn time. Thank you Olivia Munn.
All those guys claiming to be “woke” and when they have to chance to do something, they bail out and let a woman do the hard work and take the criticism.
She’s brave af.
I’ve followed her on IG and Twitter to show support.
I just followed her on Twitter as well, along with Jacob Tremblay. Thanks for the idea!
I have a new found appreciation for Olivia holy sh*t she’s really brave!
When I say Sterling Brown is CANCELLED for me…I mean that…as if he were my cousin that stole ALL my credit cards and plunged my score into the depths of Hades….And Olivia’s stock has risen so dang gone high…that she could even get my vote…cause she KNEW what horrible blow-back she would be dealing with making this stance…because it wasn’t ONLY about getting that scene out of the movie…I think it was TRULY about letting the world know about a sexual predator that stalks children and the people that support that….now you know his name…and his digusting game…
And still she rises…..
Thanks Lala I was really disappointed in this statement from Sterling and then I read Pajiba’s coverage and tempered my statement on it. I need to be better at owning my opinion but it can be daunting.
“…I mean that…as if he were my cousin that stole ALL my credit cards and plunged my score into the depths of Hades…. ” –
I am screaming!
I agree…not only did she get the scene cut, but she’s outed a bunch of complicit jerks.
not a huge fan of hers but I am WITH HER on this.
Her co-stars who are not speaking out in support of this should be named and shamed – there is no 2 sides of the story – HE ADMITTED IT and she did the right thing to protect other children he might have met on another movie set.
With Olivia 100%. She is showing a lot of character.
Bravo, Olivia! This situation proves how much imbalance there is in Hollywood between men and women. This nobody pedephile actor, in a backwards way, has more support than Olivia. Admittedly, it’s not direct support for the pedephile, but support for the director. Her weak-ass co-workers just left her hanging. Keep talking, sister! We have your back.
You will always have something to lose if you’re the one taking a moral stand surrounded by people who are too privileged to care. So, like…you have my respect, Olivia Munn.
Well said. I’m glad she didn’t let them punish her with their silence. As the great Audre Lorde said: your silence will not protect you.
While I have never been a fan of Munn, I am now.
I am also disgusted by the lack of response from her co-stars (overall), especially given the situation is not a “he said – she said” but has a legal history, easily confirmed for those with access to the internet. Her co-stars are part of the problem and part of the reason #metoo started. They should be ashamed.
Wow… how is this even a conversation? It’s so disappointing.
She absolutely did the right thing and her costars should be singing her praises. They should have reached out to her and should be unambiguous in their support. Sterling’s statement is the worst. And Keegan… I thought you were better than that. Would love to see Hollywood women come out in support of her!
1000+ This conversation. Over, and over, and over again. What else can we expect in a country where the [p]resident fits the bill?
WTH kind of statement did Sterling put out? The director’s friend, a putrid excuse for a man, was 39 and grooming his 14 year old cousin. Telling her she would be the person he’d most want to have sex with and talking about his turn ons?! I have a kid that age and this makes me want to vomit.
Sterling I loved you but you’re over. You managed to sound both condescending to Munn and sympathetic to a would-be child rapist.
I know right? Sterling was soooo condescending. I bristled as soon as I saw “my dear’. And “i’m sorry you felt”. I’m sorry you felt! I have two words for that guy.
This is another lesson in how not to handle things 101. Everyone has kids in their families, be it actors, screen writers, directors, studio people.
Do they ever think how they’d react to being made to work with a known sex offender, without having any say in that decision?
Do they ever consider the girl, and what they’d do if a kid in their families were groomed/abused?
I stand with Olivia Munn and everyone who has ever been in a situation similar to hers, and I don’t get how her co-workers can behave so cowardly tone-deaf.
I feel bad for Olivia, and hope she doesn’t get any career fallout from this. I understand her disappointment with her coworkers, but I’m not sure publically putting them on blast was a good move.
What was the alternative? They didn’t show up. Was she supposed to cover for them? Help everyone bury the fact that Shane Black chose to give a child predator a job because their friendship was more important than a child’s pain and Munn’s right to choose not to work with a criminal? Keeping up appearances and prioritizing the comfort of men is exactly how child abuse festers.
THIS!
“They didn’t show up. Was she supposed to cover for them?”
This is what is concerning me. They weren’t scheduled to show up! Only she and the child were scheduled to be doing interviews that day. It’s Rosh Hashanah and many people who observe this holiday do not work.
I totally stand with her in that 1. predator shouldn’t have been hired, 2. they shouldn’t have made her work with a predator and not have told her. However, I feel for her co-workers because it seems like she is throwing them under the bus for abandoning her, when this isn’t what happened.
I know a lot of folks who have worked with Keegan for years, and he is by all accounts an incredibly kind and thoughtful human being.
This 100000+++++
@Tiffany – hey were scheduled to show up and, in one instance, one of the guys did show up and abruptly left when the reporter raised the topic (and did not return).
Key does stand by her – he left TIFF early as planned and had spoken to her privately when the issue arose
“Putting them on blast” = speaking out to protect children from abuse.
She’s impressive and gutsy, and it shouldn’t take guts to protect children from known abusers.
We should all “put people on blast” for staying silent about the known or potential mistreatment of children. People who stay silent are complicit.
I would struggle being a survivor and seeing the person who assaulted me on the big screen. I also don’t know enough about this story to know if he should be shunned forever. I tend to lean on the side of caution and support Olivia for this.
I also wonder if their publicists pulled them out because they didn’t want them to be subjected to any questions about it. How hard is it to say “She did the right thing and I support her??”
Probably about as hard as it is to say, “Nazis are bad.”
Ha! Amen, Tania!
Amen squared.
From what I have read, the other cast members weren’t “pulled out”, they were never scheduled to be there.
yeah, it’s incredibly difficult for all those men to call their publicist and say: “issue a statement that I don’t support child abuse and I stand with O. Munn.”
Incredibly hard.
to issue a tweet? Even harder.
Poor, poor men.
Nice straw man argument. Clear sign that you can’t refute my point when you have to respond to an argument I didn’t make.
But don’t let me stop you. Please, continue on with other unrelated talking points.
This is frustrating on so many levels, the least is these men are supposed to be professionals. Do your job, no one is saying they personally have to like Olivia, but for Christ’s sake all she did was get a sex offender scene cut. All these men, including Sterling, are really telling on themselves.
I have been a big fan of hers for a long time, love her, love her dogs. She’s not perfect but she’s funny and talented and smart. I am proud of her!
I did see an early interview where Boyd Holbrook and Keegan Michael Key sat with her and supported her actions, so there was that.
Between this and Moonves – f Hollywood.
It’s really fascinating to me how these men are REAL “woke” when it comes to a male issue. Oh police are killing men of color? Let’s do something. A man is a sex predator? Easy now. Let’s talk this through.
Her costars are trash. Sterling included. He only came out AFTER she admitted she was abandoned by her costars and felt isolated. If Trevante said something, he too was too chickenshit to do it in the light of day where it would be more effective. Thomas Sadoski just gained a fan. Well done, sir!
while I’m still processing his public post since I am disappointed in it, he does say that he spoke to her privately beforehand and he was not at TIFF (due to filming of This Is Us)
In Western civilization, everyone is all about the kids and protection of kids and future of our children, until it gets to a real problem where children need protection, then we just fail them as a society, every time. Sterling K. Brown is a good example of that, and he’s canceled for me, just like any other person who could see two sides of pedophilia.
I never liked Munn. Never cared for her. I’ll go out of my way to support her. she got a lifelong fan with this.
Thank you. And if I could add, even the word “pedophilia” is problematic because of its translation into “child love.” Child abuse has nothing to do with love. “Pedophilia” is one of those archaic psychiatric terms developed to sound scientific and obscure the real problem at the same time. Let’s call abuse, abuse.
Honestly it’ even stupid from a pr point of view…
So Shane black cast a pedophile to be in a movie with Jacob Tremblay (an 11yr old)? and people think this is okay? Aren’t sex offenders not allowed to be around minors?
and even if they had no scenes together, there are still screenings, awards shows etc. where a child would be forced to interact with a child abuser.
Also srsly Sterling!? his statement was patronizing and actually supportive only to the sex offender.
Also yes, this is hella brave of her to speak out. We’ve all heard rumours about how pedophelia and child abuse runs rampant bts in hollywood. Hope nothing bad happens to her or her career.
That’s the scariest part of this. After everything that’s come out in Hollywood, shouldn’t they at least do a mandatory background check to make sure there are no sex offenders and specially child sex offenders being hired, when there’s a child around?
Munn was the only one on set with the guy so it wasn’t a violation. It was also a bit part so it would be unlikely for Streigle to be at awards shows, press junkets, etc.
Go, Ms Munn. I support you.
I wonder what pinged her to do some research on the guy ? His skeev levels must have been off the charts.
Munn has to be so used to people piling criticism on her at this point. I hope she can hang in there. This hasn’t been easy, but she did the right thing.
I really admire her for doing this — she has my support and my money for her future films. She’s showing so much integrity.
Side note: Thomas Sadoski is a good one. He has been a champion for many women who the Hollywood Boy’s Club has tried to silence.
Honest to God, the reaction the this has been stomach-turning. Reading the articles about this I stumbled across some LA actor I’ve never heard of who is calling Olivia a C-NT in the comments and defending the director and his friend against all who object. He’s all but said ‘child molesters are people too’.
Major respect for Olivia Munn, she showed this time and before that a strong moral fiber.
Sterling statement was wrong in so many levels, patronizing and minimizing the actions, when Hollywood jerks put statements like “but he is a wonderful guy, it was just one victim, he has an addiction problem, he already paid for it, he is sorry, I didn’t had idea that harassment was offensive, …. “ and so one I just remember trump saying that we’re nice people on nazi’s side and that were bad people on both sides.
ETA, looks like I’m responding to a comment that was deleted,
Last year, I was groped by a guy I work with. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time someone else saw it and made a complaint. I was working for a large video game company, that I have been freelancing with for almost ten years. I know the guy who groped me well, and he has always been like this. But, our team is mostly men and I had just kind of put up with it before someone else made a formal complaint. But once that complaint was made, I went all in and collected witness statements and got the guy fired. Happy ending, right? Not so much. The next day I came into work, none of the guys would speak to me. These are men I’ve known for years. Men I know personally, that I considered friends, and all of them abandoned me… even the ones who witnessed him grabbing me! In the end, only two of my male coworkers stood by me. How disappointing is that??? Oh, and there was a manager who saw the incident as well and laughed in my face when HR was mentioned… and guess what? He wasn’t fired. Nope, instead they asked me to sit down and give him sensitivity training. Being a woman is freaking exhausting. Team Olivia.
Wow! I feel awful for you, and that co-worker who laughed is a jerk and deserves to be fired! I was on the bus the other night and three guys were talking about a girl they knew and one of the guys called her the c-word. One of the guys told him that is was not appropriate — especially in this day and age and he kind of grilled him. I didn’t want to say anything, but I looked up and nodded my head, and that was that. It warmed my heart that the message that you can’t keep disparaging and harassing woman is actually being heard by men.
Another note, Olivia is so strong. I applaud her and those men only care about themselves.
Major respect of Olivia. She isn’t my fav but she has gained immense respect from me! Wow! She is brave and she is fierce.
Sterling K is no Randall and I am extremely disappointed in his approach/apology, etc. The “My dear” seems mocking or trivial, I don’t know but I don’t like it. I am even contemplating whether to continue watching This is Us because of his comment.
Wow that is horrible. They can’t even muster up support for PR purposes? I hope she does not get blackballed in the industry for this. Petty jerks.
Olivia is not dealing with anything that many of us in every single industry deals with when reporting wrong doing, ethics violations, or criminal acts in the work place. It is human nature to distance oneself from controversy as self preservation. Not saying it’s right, it’s just how people are.
Sterling’s answer is ridiculously condescending. Disappointed.
I’ve always liked Olivia so this comes as no surprise to me. Go on, be strong Liv! I will be here rooting for her. And hoping some a**hole doesn’t decide to blackball her because she’s “difficult” and “complains about a little scene”.
TIRED OF PATRIARCHY.
I hate the moral superiority airs centrists take on when they are actually missing the point completely.
I hesitate to say this publicly, for all of the reasons shown in the reactions to Olivia’s awesome stance…
As a child, I was sexually abused by an immediate family member. He was removed from our home and plead guilty. He served time. He has personally apologized and asked for my forgiveness on more than one occasion. TO THIS DAY there are still many people in our family who believe there were “two sides to the story” – I WAS SIX. MY SIDE IS ALL THAT MATTERS.
Also? He isn’t a registered sex offender. If you are a minor and your crime is a low enough charge (in his case he plead down to a 4th degree, despite it going on for months) you don’t necessarily have to register. He’s currently a government employee. Everyone adores him. Neither of his wives ever knew/know the truth.
FACT.
UGH. This whole thing is disgusting. This man is a predator who groomed his COUSIN. And yet Olivia is the one who is suffering the blame of outing him?! No. Just NO.
Thank you for sharing your story. My heart goes out to you. This has happened in my family, too, except there were no criminal charges or prosecution. Just allegations and people taking sides. The mother of the children that made the allegations tells everyone they are lying, and probably because the children got no support from her they never tried to have the person charged. It’s infuriating. When children say that someone has sexually abused them, everyone else should default to believing the children and looking to their safety and security, but instead a shocking number of people respond with “oh poor so-and-so, they are such a saint for dealing with these false accusations from these lying children.”
I’m sorry the system is so broken and that this happened to you. It’s brave of you to share even anonymously, and it shows how incredibly stupid that two sides narrative really is.
People want to show how good they are by forgiving the sins of people who didn’t trespass against them.
As if this type of crime is victimless. As if their imaginary benevolence would last of it happened to them. To their sister, their friend.
And it’s doubly messed up that the people who dare speak up are viewed as bullies instead of people risking themselves for justice. She’s whistle blowing rape culture, but the people she’s outing have friends. Who don’t want to hear it.
Olivia will get a bad name for this. Black, the man who hired a pedophile, will be lauded for his loyalty to a friend. The rest will avoid anything by staying silent, like the cowards they are. Brown will get praise from centrists and the optimistic on both left and right.
Leaving the woman, the most vulnerable in this situation, to reap the rewards of social criticism.
I’m totally confused here. Were her coworkers supposed to be on a panel with her and all backed out? Are they saying she was wrong for doing what she did? I’m lost.
No, they weren’t supposed to be on a panel with her. No one cancelled any appearances.
The possibility that she was deliberately scheduled on her own or with just the child costar also crosses my mind. Hey, she was there for PR, she gave her statement. They don’t like it, they think there’s another side to the story (I doubt) they should have been there. Nuff said. And these observant guys? Please at least watch their activities on Rosh Hashanah over the next few years. Observant next year and the year after? Men of their words. Doing other activities? Observant when it suits them.
Shame on Shane Black and her co-stars! Common courtesy would have been to reach out to her in private, make sure she’s okay and thank her for warning them. It didn’t need to go any further, they didn’t need to “risk” their precious careers by publicly speaking out. But by basically staying quiet and seemingly choosing to not promote their movie rather than potentially answering uncomfortable questions, they are tacitly saying they don’t care that a co-star was put into possible danger and their director was perfectly willing to employ a child molester.
Of course, cancel Sterling K Brown for a inept af response to a situation he nontheless isn’t responsible for, didn’t create, and could potentially learn from (as I doubt he won’t catch consequences).
Meanwhile, no one mentions cancelling, Shane Black, who is responsible for this predator on set in the first place, and who defended his position before the backlash got going but is now using the weak arguement that he “didn’t know and was misled”. (Dude, your friend is an ex-con and you didn’t check what for when it could potentially put people on set at risk, or come back on your career rep? Sure, Jan. Not to mention the number of times I’ve side-eyed the undercurrent of misogyny in his scripts.)
Yeah, that sounds about right.
And while I am 100% here for Munn putting this situation on blast (I still find it crazy-making that the industry doesn’t have mandatory checks for this), I seriously hope she isn’t encouraging a misinterpretation that her costars backed out of an event they weren’t scheduled to be at. That would be putting them under a bus, and *if* that’s the case I could see people avoiding hiring her if other castings back out when they know she’s on a project lest they end up inadvertently under one too.
I canceled each and every one of those men who didn’t react how I think they should. If enough people cancel them, they will suffer some financial consequences.
and that’s it! my money will go where and to whom I want it to go. I mean, those are actors, let’s not pretend they are saving lives with their job, so we should be especially understanding of their hard hard life and “give them a chance to grow”.
secondly, can someone please explain this to me, cause I obviously don’t get it: Munn commented how she felt isolated and put on the spot bc she didn’t get any kind of private or public support for her actions from her costars. her costars could have reacted prior to TIFF. They could have reacted on twitter while TIFF was happening. They didn’t.
and this guy brought a child predator where one of the actors is 11 years old!!!! 11!!!!
if I were parent of that child, the studio and director would be getting a letter from lawyers.
This whole situation has been badly managed by EVERYONE and the negative backlash against the rest of the cast, the director and the studio is not only gaining traction on social media but the entertainment press is actually reporting on it. The behaviour (walking out of an interview), silence and absence from the rest of the cast will reflect badly on them and damage their images as child predator apologists. The director will be lucky he gets to make another movie after this – he’ll never get insurance after admitting to repeatedly hiring a registered child sex offender.
As for Sterling Browns tweets – the man is an idiot, the reports of what happened were all over the internet. There is nothing forgivable about an adult grooming a child for sex.
Olivia flat out says one of her costars walked out of an interview with her & sited Olivia as the issue for why he was leaving, so I’m not sure why some of you are insisting no one pulled out of something they were supposed to be at.
Can I just say that I can’t stand him as a TCM host? He knows nothing about classic film and I highly doubt he has a passion for it. Ugh.
Anyway, actors care about good attention and money. They’re not going to risk it for anything they don’t feel adds to it.
I’m with Olivia. When you mess with kids you’ve crossed a line with me and I say point fingers, tell everyone you can a NV d shut them down. I don’t think sex pervs can be rehabilitated personally. This guy sees opportunity in the movie business to pill more of this on girls and his buddy enableD it.
I was 14 the first time a man made a pass at me. He was maybe 40? He knew how young I was, and through instinct, I knew there was something wrong with him. He made my skin crawl. I’m not buying that Shane Black didn’t know. I’m buying that he didn’t care. From our own lives and story examples above, we know that men support each other, no matter how twisted. And as we have been learning, or should be, Hollywood is a pit of lecherous snakes. As soon as the next one is identified who is complicit or apathetic regarding the abuse of children or women, for me, cancelled. I’m going to look up Black on IMBD, and never watch another of his movies, past, present, or future, again. Because all I can control are my actions/reactions. Like recoiling from a man making a pass at 14 year old me like he was covered in slime, running away, and never looking back.
Good for Olivia- standing up for what is right, not what is easy. I’m glad she was honest about her treatment. It’s depressing she didn’t have more support. It makes you wonder if the other actors were threatened. They remain no me of the GOP. Turn a blind eye and pretend everything is normal. Not ok.
*remind me
I’ve noticed you’ve made a lot of these comments on this thread and I will choose this one to disagree with you. The backlash against her has already begun. She’s being shunned. While the initial response to her has been positive, in six, ten, twelve months it will be all but gone and I’m certain she won’t have any new projects on her IMDB. THIS is why I’m supporting her. She knows the consequences and did it anyway. Because it was the right thing.
Boyd Holbrook had at least enough courage to admit that he got scared and pulled out of some press comitment. At least he nlw got enough balls to say there are no both sides and the only side to be on is Olivia’s. His statement is on his IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnjy-0YllZX/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=16orlfcpb7kcu
Big fan of Olivia’s! She’s brave, and the guys are cowards. It is not forgivable to try to ensnare a 14 year old child, Sterling K Brown – check with any sane normal adult next time you get confused.