Olivia Munn's 'The Predator' co-stars respond to her feeling 'shunned'

By Erin Donnelly
Yahoo Movies UK
September 10, 2018

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sterling-k-brown-keegan-michael-key-respond-predator-backlash-olivia-munn-says-co-stars-didnt-back-153255940.html

Olivia Munn promotes The Predator alongside, from left, co-stars Keegan Michael-Key, Thomas Jane, and Sterling K. Brown in July. Photo by Albert L. Ortega

Olivia Munn’s co-stars in The Predator are finally addressing her concerns that she’s been ostracised over her insistence that one of the film’s scenes be removed.

Director Shane Black cast friend Steven Wilder Striegel for a role in the upcoming sci-fi action film, without notifying the cast that he is a registered sex offender who has been accused of sexually propositioning a teenager by email. The scene featuring Striegel has since been cut.

Munn, an advocate for #TimesUp and #MeToo movements, has been vocal about her disgust with the situation. She has also called out her male co-stars for giving Black a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and not backing her up.

“I kind of feel like I’m the one going to jail,” Munn told Vanity Fair. “I didn’t go to jail, I didn’t put this guy on our set. I had this scene deleted. Thank God, honestly, that there is social media. It’s the fans and news outlets that’s confirming it to me that what I did was the right thing. If I didn’t have that feedback, I’d kind of go a little crazy thinking, Why am I being treated like this? That’s not OK, to feel like the bad guy.”

According to Munn, co-stars including Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Jane, Trevante Rhodes, and Keegan-Michael Key declined to give public statements addressing the Striegel casting. She also said that one co-star left an interview when the topic came up. The actress has since been promoting the film — which she tweeted she is “contractually obligated” to do — with its youngest cast member, 11-year-old Jacob Tremblay.

Munn’s comments about feeling unsupported by her co-stars — and the resulting backlash — has prompted at least two colleagues to speak up. On Sunday Sterling K. Brown, who appears in the film but was not present at TIFF, tweeted his regret that she feels “so isolated” and acknowledged that the cast should have been told about Striegel’s past.

The This Is Us star added that he was happy that Munn “didn’t leave well enough alone” in a Twitter thread, which she later “liked.”

Key has also responded to the controversy, with his rep issuing this statement to the Hollywood Reporter on Sunday:

“His last interview was scheduled after lunch, which he completed,” the rep explained regarding the Key & Peele alum’s absence from doing press with Munn. “He was always departing TIFF early so he could be home to spend the Jewish holiday with his wife. Furthermore, Keegan reached out to Olivia privately last week to let her know how proud he was of her and echoed that sentiment in many interviews since then.”

The movie’s other stars continue to be called out on social media, with many finding Rhodes’s comment that he “wasn’t disappointed in Shane [Black}, I was disappointed in the situation, and I’m happy that Liv spoke up” to be underwhelming.