Selma, one of the year’s best films, and most talked about, has been accused of historical inaccuracy when it comes to the film’s portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s role in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by LBJ’s former aide and a historian. Selma’s director, Ava DuVernay, has responded to those criticisms.
LBJ’s aide, Joseph A. Califano Jr., an assistant for domestic affairs, wrote in the Washington Post that Selma, “falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr. and even using the FBI to discredit him, as only reluctantly behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and as opposed to the Selma march itself.” He also said LBJ actually gave Martin Luther King Jr. the idea for a “major demonstration,” which would become the Selma march. DuVernay directly addressed these comments on Twitter last night:
[via EW]
