Over four years after the announcement of a documentary about the sexual abuse scandal involving former Ohio State athletics doctor Richard Strauss, the film is finally set to be released this year. Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed to Awful Announcing that the untitled film will debut on HBO in 2025. Produced by George Clooney, his longtime collaborator Grant Heslov, and sports journalist Jon Wertheim, the documentary is directed by Emmy-winning actress Eva Orner.
According to a 2023 report by The Columbus Dispatch, the documentary will explore the university’s failure to act on allegations that officials and staff were aware of Strauss’s misconduct but chose to ignore it. Strauss sexually abused at least 177 OSU students over his 20-year tenure as an athletics and student health doctor, as detailed in an independent investigative report released by Ohio State University in May 2019. Since this report, there have been no updates from HBO regarding the film’s status. However, during a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Wertheim revealed that he was working on a sports project set to be released this year, which we now know is the Richard Strauss documentary.
