Mackenzie Shirilla’s Father Steve
Claims Netflix Documentary Twisted His Words
… After Being Placed on Leave From Teaching Job
Published
Steve Shirilla is pushing back on the firestorm surrounding Netflix’s documentary about his daughter … insisting his comments about marijuana were twisted and people have misunderstood what he was trying to say.
Check it out … Steve joined us on “TMZ Live” after being placed on paid leave from his Ohio Catholic school teaching job following backlash over “The Crash” … centered around his daughter, Mackenzie Shirilla, who was convicted of murder in the 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan.
A major point of controversy has been Steve’s remarks in the doc about Mackenzie smoking marijuana as a teenager … but he says that interpretation is off base … telling us the filmmakers condensed days of interviews into a few short sound bites and left out important context.
The doc shows him addressing Mackenzie’s marijuana usage … in which he says, “I don’t have a problem with her smoking dope. If you’re going to smoke a drug, that’s the one I believe you should take.”
But he tells us he had no idea Mackenzie was allegedly smoking while driving before the deadly crash … saying if he’d known, he would’ve “had huge issues with it.”
Steve says the diocese told him they’d been “inundated” with complaints from concerned parents after the film dropped … and that’s what led to the leave.
Beyond the controversy surrounding the doc, Steve continues to defend his daughter’s innocence … arguing prosecutors never proved intent or premeditation, which he claims is necessary to justify a murder conviction … saying, “There is zero evidence of intent and prior calculation in this case.”
Mackenzie was convicted in 2023 after prosecutors said she intentionally drove nearly 100 mph into a building … and she’s now serving life with parole eligibility after 15 years.