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Jason Statham Refused GLAAD PSA & Kid's Charity Work Requests Before Issuing 'Wild Card' Apology

Home / News / Jason Statham Refused GLAAD PSA & Kid's Charity Work Requests Before Issuing 'Wild Card' Apology

By TheBlast Staff on May 22, 2018 at 2:47 AM PDT

Jason Statham was given a few different options to avoid the public release of a potentially career-damaging audio recording, but for one reason or another did not want to play ball and decided to get in front of the situation by releasing a statement.

Sources close to the situation tell The Blast it was originally discussed in a meeting between Statham his lawyer and R.J. Cipriani that the star film an anti-bullying PSA with GLAAD after Cipriani approached the actor and his team.

Cipriani is a professional gambler and an unorthodox philanthropist known as "Robin Hood 702." He tells us he felt it was extremely important for Statham to give back to the community after allegedly screaming “f*cking f*gs” on the set of the 2015 movie, "Wild Card."

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We're told during the meeting Cipriani told the actor, "Jason, the world has been kind to you its time for you to be kind to the world." Cipriani says the star and his team refused to do a bullying PSA with GLAAD. However, they did agree to a second request ... doing something for a children's charity, specifically kids afflicted with cancer.

We're told a date was agreed on so that Statham could complete the charity work in the next few months. However, the date kept getting pushed back by the actor and Cipriani felt that he was bailing on the agreement.

His hunch was confirmed when Statham chose to get in front of the alleged audio recording and released a statement apologizing for the alleged incident.

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Even though he apologized, Statham believes if there was a conversation where he said “f*cking f*gs," it was made in private to his producing partner and not audibly to the entire crew.

We reached out to GLAAD for comment but did not hear back.

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