‘The Predator’ Star Jake Busey Addresses Sex Offender Controversy

Days before The Predator premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, 20th Century Fox cut a scene featuring actor Steven Wilder Striegel, who the studio didn’t know was a registered sex offender while filming. Star Jake Busey addressed the complicated matter, claiming, “It’s a sad thing.”

“None of us were aware of anything like that and that’s just not something that, really in any job, you really know or do background checks to that extent,” Busey shared with Variety. “You just don’t know these things about people’s pasts. The government let him…Canada’s one of the toughest governments to cross the border. I’ve had a great difficulty getting across the border in the past. It’s just odd, it was a surprise.”

Striegel was cast by director Shane Black, who has often offered the actor small roles in films like Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, despite having pleaded guilty to two felonies in 2010 regarding a relationship with a 14-year-old girl online.

“I think, politically, they had to. There’s really no other choice,” Busey detailed of the studio’s decision to cut the scene entirely. “And, morally, I don’t know, I don’t run a studio, I don’t make films, I don’t really know much about it all. Unfortunately, it’s a sad thing.”

Star Olivia Munn, who appears in the scene alongside Striegel, reported the information to the studio on August 15th. It appears as though Black knew this information about the actor’s past, though avoided divulging those details to the film’s stars, refusing them the opportunity to voice their opinion on working with the actor given his troubled past.

After news broke about the studio’s decision, Black shared a statement on the matter.

“Having read this morning’s news reports, 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’s statement read, as reported by Variety. “I believe strongly in giving people second chances – but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped.”

He added, “After learning more about the affidavit, transcripts and additional details surrounding Steve Striegel’s sentence, I am deeply disappointed in myself. I apologize to all of those, past and present, I’ve let down by having Steve around them without giving them a voice in the decision.”

The Predator lands in theaters on September 14th.

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[H/T Twitter, Variety]