Olivia Munn Criticizes Quentin Tarantino for ‘Pushing Past Abusive Behavior’ Without ‘Earning’ It

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Olivia Munn’s recent appearance on BuzzFeed News’ “AM2DM” morning show to promote her new Starz series “The Rook” turned noteworthy when she took a moment to call out Quentin Tarantino and the Affleck brothers. The actress was talking about redemption in the #MeToo era and how it’s possible as long as an abuser earns it. In the case of Tarantino and both Casey and Ben Affleck, Munn says they haven’t and have simply pushed their way past their problematic behavior.

“When most people mess up, we have to go to the back of the line and earn our way back up,” Munn said. “But then, there are these certain men who, when they mess up they kind of go, ‘Oops, sorry, my bad,’ and then just resume their place in line.”

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Munn continued, “There are going to be people that are hoping they can just push past it and people can just forget. We have stuff with the Afflecks, both of them. They just keep going and hoping that no one is going to find out. We have Tarantino who admitted to abusive behavior on set and also knowing what Harvey Weinstein was doing.”

During the initial wave of sexual abuse accusations made against Harvey Weinstein in fall 2017, Tarantino told The New York Times that he was aware in some capacity of the behavior that was going on behind closed doors. “I knew enough to do more than I did,” the director said. “There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard.”

Weinstein is credited with jump-starting Tarantino’s career after distributing his feature debut “Reservoir Dogs.” Tarantino would go on to work with Weinstein at Miramax and The Weinstein Company on every film through “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” which he brought to Sony after Weinstein was exiled from Hollywood because of his abusive behavior.

“If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him,” Tarantino told The Times.

Several months later, Uma Thurman came forward to reveal that Tarantino had contributed to a car accident on the set of “Kill Bill” that left her with serious injuries. Thurman said Tarantino pressured her to perform a car stunt and misinformed her about some of the logistics of the scene. The car ended up veering off the road and crashing. Tarantino later apologized and called the accident the biggest regret of his career. The director has also admitted to choking Thurman and his “Inglourious Basterds” star Diane Kruger during scenes, albeit with their permission.

Munn has often spoken out about issues revolving sexual harassment and abuse. The actress was one of several women who accused Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct in a November 2017 report from the Los Angeles Times, and in September 2018 she revealed she got a scene removed from “The Predator” after she discovered one of her co-stars was a registered sex offender.

The actor, Steven Wilder Striegel, was a friend of “Predator” director Shane Black. Munn would later explain that she was chastised by her “Predator” co-stars for speaking out about the sex offender and derailing the film’s release.

Tarantino is returning to theaters later this month with “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Sony is going nationwide with the film on July 26. Munn’s “The Rook” started its first season run June 30 on Starz and airs Sundays at 8pm ET.

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