When they SUE us
Former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein slapped Netflix and Ava DuVernay, creator of the network’s drama about the Central Park Five case, with a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday.
DuVernay depicted Fairstein, who oversaw the prosecution team seeking convictions of the five teens arrested for the rape and near fatal beating of jogger Trish Meili in 1989, as a sinister prosecutor bent on snatching a wrongful conviction against the accused, who were all black or Hispanic.
The show, “When They See Us,” debuted in May 2019 to broad critical acclaim. But Fairstein was infuriated by Felicity Huffman’s performance of her.
Fairstein filed the 119-page lawsuit in federal court in Fort Myers, Fla., where she now lives. “‘When They See Us’ portrays Ms. Fairstein in a false and defamatory manner in nearly every scene in the three episodes in which she appears,” the lawsuit said. “The film series’ portrayal of Ms. Fairstein cannot be justified as the mere use of artistic license or dramatization. (Netflix and DuVernay) depict Fairstein, using her true name, as a racist, unethical villain who is determined to jail innocent children of color at any cost.”
In one example cited by the suit, Fairstein is shown ordering cops to fan out and round up “young, black thugs.” She is also depicted as referring to them as “animals,” and directs investigators to coerce confessions and suppress DNA evidence, the court papers said.
“In fact, Ms. Fairstein undertook none of these actions,” the lawsuit said, going on to accuse Netflix and DuVernay of actual malice, meaning they intentionally made things up to hurt Fairstein. The marketing of the show reinforced the notion that the portrayal of her was true, the suit alleged.
After the show premiered, Fairstein was the target of death threats on social media. The author of 24 books, Fairstein was forced to resign from the boards of three large nonprofit institutions and was dropped by her publisher and her agent. She also lost a series of speaking