Linda Fairstein, who's been met with numerous petitions and a renewed scrutiny in the wake of Ava DuVernay's When They See Us, has apparently decided to double down with an op-ed in which she calls the Netflix series "so full of distortions and falsehoods as to be an outright fabrication."
The op-ed in question, available behind a paywall by way of the Wall Street Journal, notably sees Fairstein (played by Felicity Huffman in DuVernay's Central Park Five dramatization) suggesting that Matias Reyes' DNA-supported admission of guilt doesn't mean that the five teens didn't engage in the assault of others in the park.
"Mr. Reyes's confession, DNA match and claim that he acted alone required that the rape charges against the five be vacated," Fairstein, who added that DuVernay's series "does not speak the truth," said in the Monday-published op-ed. "I agreed with that decision, and still do. But the other charges, for crimes against other victims, should not have been vacated."
Prior to the publication of Fairstein's op-ed, DuVernay joined Oprah Winfrey and the Exonerated Five (Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise) for the taping of a special set to air later this week. During a Q&A portion, DuVernay was asked about those aforementioned successful petitions and the "basket of lies" comment Fairstein gave to The Daily Beast days ahead of her WSJ op-ed.
"It's not all about her," DuVernay cautioned, per a Hollywood Reporter rundown of the night. "She is part of a system that's not broken, it was built to be this way. It was built to oppress, it was built to control, it was built to shape our culture in a specific way that kept some people here and some people here. It was built for profit. It was built for political gain and power."
As expected, Fairstein's paywalled op-ed is being met with widespread criticism, much of it aimed at both Fairstein and WSJ.
