#CentralParkFive prosecutor #LindaFairstein reportedly declined to participate in the #Netflix miniseries #WhenTheySeeUs because the show’s production consulted with the five men who were wrongfully convicted.
Jane Rosenthal, a producer on the critically-acclaimed series, said their team exchanged many emails with Fairstein about offering her perspective, @variety reports.
“Her point of view was clearly that she didn’t want us talking to the five men if we were talking to her,” Rosenthal said today while on a panel at a conference in #Burbank, California.
That tea was apparently news to director #AvaDuVernay, who responded with, “Are we saying that, Jane? I guess we are. That’s the tea that just got spilled.”
Fairstein, who was portrayed by Felicity Huffman in the four-part series, has suffered major backlash since the show debuted on Netflix.
Since the 1989 case, Fairstein has gone on to become a best-selling author and following the series’ release, there was a call to action asking social media users to contact retailers and have her books pulled from shelves.
Others were calling for all her cases to be reopened.
Then on Friday, Fairstein’s long-time publisher Dutton dropped her as an author. Also last week, Glamour magazine published an op-ed expressing regret over giving Fairstein one of the magazine’s Woman of the Year prizes in 1993.
DuVernay’s point of entry to the project was the men themselves, she said earlier in Sunday’s conversation. She pursued the life rights of the then-teenagers implicated — Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise — in step with Participant Media scripted head Jonathan King.
Fairstein has not commented publicly on the backlash but she has removed herself from social media.
Ava and the exonerated men recently sat for an interview with Oprah Winfrey, which will be aired on Netflix.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest, Roommates!
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
