Linda Fairstein Rips Ava DuVernay’s ‘When They See Us’: “Netflix’s False Story of the Central Park Five”

Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein is speaking out against Ava DuVernay‘s limited series When They See Us. The four-part series depicts the story of five teenage boys, dubbed the “Central Park Five” at the time, who were wrongfully convicted of attacking and raping a jogger in 1989. This week, Fairstein published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal slamming the Netflix series, which she called “so full of distortions and falsehoods as to be an outright fabrication.” The former prosecutor, who played a large part in the boys’ wrongful conviction, went on to proclaim her innocence, writing, “Ms. DuVernay does not define me, and her film does not speak the truth.”

“Ms. DuVernay’s film attempts to portray me as an overzealous prosecutor and a bigot, the police as incompetent or worse, and the five suspects as innocent of all charges against them. None of this is true.” said Fairstein at the beginning of her WSJ op-ed, titled “Netflix’s False Story of the Central Park Five.” She listed some of “the film’s most egregious falsehoods,” including claims that the five boys were “held without food” and “deprived of their parents’ company and advice,” the dispute over Yusef Salaam’s age, and statements that were given on “sworn testimony.” Fairstein’s account of these events have been disputed by the boys themselves, as well as by the New York Times, which debunked many of the claims in her op-ed.

Fairstein went on to say that while Matias Reyes confessed to raping and attempting to kill the jogger, Trisha Meili, in 2002 (all five boys were later exonerated), she believes that they should still be held responsible for allegedly harassing people in Central Park the night of Meili’s attack. “The other charges, for crimes against other victims, should not have been vacated. Nothing Mr. Reyes said exonerated these five of those attacks,” wrote Fairstein of the alleged attacks on park-goers. “And there was certainly more than enough evidence to support those convictions of first-degree assault, robbery, riot and other charges.”

The former prosecutor concluded by claiming that DuVernay “ignored much of the truth” of this case. “That her film includes so many falsehoods … is nonetheless an outrage,” she wrote. “Ms. DuVernay does not define me, and her film does not speak the truth.”

Read Fairstein’s op-ed is available to read on the Wall Street Journal. But more importantly, When They See Us is available to stream on Netflix.

Watch When They See Us on Netflix