Fox Cuts a Scene From New 'Predator' After Casting a Registered Sex Offender

the predator
Pictured is The Predator of 'The Predator.' A scene was deleted after reports that a sex offender was featured in the movie. 20TH CENTURY FOX

Twentieth Century Fox was forced to cut a scene from the final version of The Predator just two weeks before its release after reports came in that the film featured a registered sex offender, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.

Steven Wilder Striegel, longtime friend of director Shane Black, appears briefly in the sci-fi thriller reboot with Olivia Munn in a short scene where he attempts to hit on her. Striegel, 47, plead guilty in 2010 to attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship over the internet. He was sentenced and served six months in prison. He was arrested in 2009 and was formally charged with two felonies: risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer. In a statement to the Times, he revealed that the unnamed 14-year-old was also a relative of his.

"Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegal's background when he was hired," 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."

Munn learned that Striegel was a registered sex offender in August and took this discovery to the studio. His scene was quickly removed from the film. Black did not share the information of Striegel's past conviction with any of the cast, crew or Fox Studio executives at any point during and after the production of the film, according to the Times.

Black, however, had always known about Striegel's conviction. "I personally chose to help a friend," he said in a statement to the Times. "I can understand others might disapprove, as his conviction was on a sensitive charge and not to be taken lightly." He continued to say that he believed Striegel had been "caught up in a bad situation versus something lecherous."

Striegel has appeared already in two of Black's films with small roles in both Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys. He previously acted in Days of Our Lives and Melrose Place, but did not need to audition for his small roles in Black's films, he told the Times.

Representatives for Black and Fox did not immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment.

The Predator is the fourth installment of the Predator film series and tells the story of a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) who accidentally triggers an alert that brings the Predators back to earth. The rest of the cast includes Sterling K. Brown, Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan Michael-Kay, Jake Busey, Yvonne Strahovski, Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, and Thomas Jane.

The Predator opens in theaters everywhere on September 14.

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