Sterling K. Brown Backs Olivia Munn Following 'The Predator' Sex Offender Scandal

After Olivia Munn said she felt 'abandoned' by the rest of The Predator cast for speaking out [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

After Olivia Munn said she felt "abandoned" by the rest of The Predator cast for speaking out about a sex offender appearing in the film, co-star Sterling K. Brown voiced his support from afar on Twitter.

Hours before The Predator's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that 20th Century Fox cut a scene from the film after Munn told the studio that actor Steven Wilder Striegel is a registered sex offender. Striegel, a friend of director Shane Black, was only in one short scene with Munn.

The red carpet premiere went on as planned in Toronto, but Black backed out of a post-screening Q&A. Munn and other members of the cast continued to do press though, with Munn telling The Hollywood Reporter she was disappointed about doing interviews without the support of her co-stars.

"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," Munn told THR. "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."

She continued, "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."

Brown, who is currently filming NBC's This Is Us, could not travel to Toronto. He apologized to Munn for feeling isolated and praised Fox for quickly deleting the scene.

"I'm sorry you're feeling so isolated, my dear. And I'm sorry you've been the only one to speak up publicly," Brown tweeted. "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?"

"That's gonna vary from individual to individual. You and [Shane Black] may differ when it comes to that issue. I don't have all the details regarding his friend's crime, but I know it involves a minor, and he spent time in jail. With regards to forgiveness, I leave that to the individual," the actor continued.

"What I take issue with, (& I believe Shane addressed this in his apology), is that we all have the right to know who we're working with! And when someone has been convicted of a crime of a sexual nature involving a child, we have the right to say that's not okay!"

Brown noted that the studio and the rest of the cast was never given a say about working with an actor convicted of a sex crime, since Black never disclosed that information before Striegel appeared in the film.

"I hope you don't feel quite so alone. You did the right thing," Brown wrote to Munn in his last tweet on the subject.

According to the Times, Munn told Fox what she learned about Striegel's past on Aug. 15 and the studio cut his scene. Striegel was arrested in 2009 for trying to seduce a 14-year-old girl online. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to two felony charges and served six months in jail. He was also put on the sex offender registry, but later appeared in Black's Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys.

"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," Black said in his apology to the Times. "I believe strongly in giving people second chances... but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped."

The Predator opens in theaters on Sept. 13.

Photo credit: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

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