Actor George Clooney set to produce docuseries on Ohio State sex abuse, Dr. Strauss
Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney will produce a docuseries, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, centered on the decades-long sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State University.
The series, according to the Reporter, will detail the long list of allegations against former Ohio State sports doctor Richard Strauss.
Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures will team up with Sports Illustrated Studios and 101 Studios for the project, which is based on an October 2020 Sports Illustrated story written by Jon Wertheim.
Investigators hired by Ohio State concluded in 2019 that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students between 1979 and his retirement in 1998, and that university personnel repeatedly failed to act. Lawsuits filed in the past two years, representing at least 360 plaintiffs, indicated that the number of victims was much higher. In many cases, complaints outlined claims about the doctor's conduct and alleged school officials knew about Strauss' abuse but failed to stop it.
Strauss retired in 1998. He later moved to California, where he died by suicide in 2005.
To date, Ohio State has announced settlements totaling $46.7 million among 185 plaintiffs who have alleged abuse by Strauss. But lawsuits representing hundreds of other plaintiffs remain pending.