Over four years after a documentary about the sexual abuse scandal involving former Ohio State athletics doctor Richard Strauss was initially announced, the film will finally see the light of day this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed to Awful Announcing that the untitled film, which will debut on HBO, is set for release in 2025. George Clooney, his longtime collaborator Grant Heslov, and sports journalist Jon Wertheim are producing the documentary, which is directed by Emmy-winning actor Eva Orner.
According to a 2023 report by The Columbus Dispatch, “The documentary will examine the university’s failure to act and allegations that school officials and staff knew about Strauss’s conduct but ignored it. Strauss sexually abused at least 177 OSU students throughout his 20-year tenure as an athletics and student health doctor at the school, according to an independent investigative report released by Ohio State University in May 2019.”
Since that 2023 report, in which HBO provided no update as to the film’s status, no other public reports have surfaced about the documentary’s future. However, during this Sunday’s edition of 60 Minutes, Wertheim, a correspondent for the show, disclosed during an interview with Clooney and Heslov that he was collaborating on a sports project set to release this year.
That project, we now know, is the Richard Strauss documentary.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.