www.vulture.com: On Ellen this morning, Olivia Munn discussed how she has felt isolated after it became public that Fox cut a scene from The Predator that included a sex offender. The film’s director Shane Black originally shot a scene with his friend Steven Wilder Striegel and Munn, without telling her that Striegel had served six months in jail for sending provocative and flirtatious emails to a 14-year-old girl.
5 comments:
The fact that this happened is crazy. I applaud Olivia Munn and for alerting producers and her co-stars. I understand that the studio would not have the bad publicity associated with hiring a sex offender, Munn should not have felt any pushback for her actions. Covering over the problem makes it easier for these sorts of things to happen again, but Munn standing up for her beliefs makes it harder for this to happen in the future. What I find most concerning is that the sex offender was brought on to the project because he was a friend of the director. Despite the Shane Black’s apology, this means that he potentially bypassed protocol that are in place to protect people. Unfortunately, the backlash that Munn, a celebrity, faced may discourage people from speaking out. Thankfully, the media supported her, but it is likely that this story will prevent people from speaking when they see something.
I still cannot believe that it is 2018 and we are still dealing with these issues. After so many feminist movements, especially the recent #MeToo movement, one would think that we, as a society - but more importantly, as an industry - would be better at dealing with these issues. It concerns me that Shane Black would bring Steven Wilder Striegel on to the show, while knowing that he is a sex-offender. First of all, it saddens me that the majority of the male community still doesn't seem to see the intensity and impact of sexual assault cases. To think that Black though it was okay to bring a man who served jail time for having sexual conversations with a fourteen year old on to set, without telling anyone about Striegel's past, is extremely concerning. Not only is he disregarding the safety of everyone involved with the production, but he is disregarding basic human morals.
This makes me want to scream. Unfortunately I can all to easily believe that Olivia Munn has received censor from the studio and other male counterparts. She spoke up about a crazy situation that should not have even been a possibility in the first place. Shane Black seems like a liability, and hopefully studios in the future will not look into hiring someone who pulled a stunt like this. One of the most powerful things this article reported to me was the following said by Olivia Munn: "“What’s really important for people to understand is when you see something you have to say something,” Munn said. “However, it’s not going to be easy. There will be people that just get mad at you for not playing the game.”" The idea of see something say something is literally all over our world these days. If we can tell people that if they see a bag left alone at the airport they need to report it, we should be able to praise an actor who reports a bad situation of having a convicted sex offender on set--a person who was brought in without anyone being told. In 2018 I hope we can just all admit that playing the game is tiring and oftentimes wrong, and we all need to do better. That she eventually got support from her male colleagues is frustrating--it appears that they didn't offer support until the tide of public opinion was in her favor.
This article makes me so sad that aomething like this is happening. I don't understand how someone who is a sex offender is still finding work like that, especially in this industry. I think that the people who chastised Olivia Munn are really stupid. She brought up a valid concern and she thought that what she was doing was for the betterment of the entire movie. I think that the male costars that cance;led interviews with her are just plain dumb because what she did is something that I support and can get behind. She wanted to make sure everyone was safe and she did not feel comfortable so she said something but got blamed in return. In a lot of sexual harrasment cases, the victim gets blamed, and although Olvia Munn is not the victim, that is what it feels like. When a woman speeks up against a man, she is the one who is blamed.
I am saddened and upset that Munn received this response when she chose to do the right thing, the brave thing, and speak up about what was happening on her set. As we have learned from the countless stories inspired by the #Metoo and Time's Up movements, Hollywood women have long survived by the "whisper system" of quietly informing each other about abusive men in positions of power that they should avoid. I am glad that things have changed enough that Munn was even able to speak out without fear of ruining her career, however, the backlash she received, although it upsets me, does not surprise me. We are still working through a process of how to properly respond to these revelations and it is a slow and exhausting process to watch. Louis CK recently returned to comedy and Kevin Spacey was able to get a new movie produced even after the accusations against them. Spacey's movie thankfully tanked in spectacular fashion, earning only $126 dollars on opening day, however, the fact that he even was able to get it made is disturbing. We still have a long way to go when it comes to dealing with the actions of these monstrous men, but I am proud that there are people like Munn who will not tolerate this behaviour quietly anymore.
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