20th Century Fox Deletes A Scene From The Predator Featuring Shane Black’s Sex Offender Friend

It looks like 20^th Century Fox had to delete a scene from Shane Black's The Predator after learning that a sex offender was featured in the sequence.

According to a new report by The Lose Angeles Times, actor Steven Wilder Striegel had to be cut from The Predator after actress Olivia Munn told the studio that he was actually a registered sex offender. The actor pleaded guilty to allegations of attempting to persuade a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship online back in 2010. Striegel was sentenced to six months in Jail.

The actor wasn't supposed to have a big role in The Predator movie; only a three-page scene shared together with Munn. Despite knowing his history, Black decided to give Striegel a role in his film because of their history together, saying in a statement that he "personally chose to help a friend."

"I can understand others might disapprove, as his conviction was on a sensitive charge and not to be taken lightly," Black went on with his statement. The director went on to defend his decision to hire Striegel, saying that he was simply "caught up in a bad situation versus something lecherous."

20^th Century Fox, on the other hand, had no idea about Striegel's background, so when Munn shared the information with Fox back in August, the studio decided to cut his scene from the film.

"Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel's background when he was hired," a spokesperson of Fox said in a statement. "We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors."

Guess the studio wanted to be safe, deciding to go over Black's decision in having Striegel in the film.

The Predator hits cinemas September 14.

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