Ava DuVernay Goes In On Ex-Prosecutor Linda Fairstein, Who Got ‘No Payment’ For ‘When They See Us’ Lawsuit

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Former NYC prosecutor Linda Fairstein was not happy with TV and film director Ava DuVernay when her Emmy-winning Netflix miniseries When They See Us, which chronicled the terror and cruelty endured by the Black and brown boys who made up the Central Park Five, which is now more affectionately referred to as the Exonerated Five. Fairstein—who prosecuted the case in which five teenage boys were wrongly convicted of attacking and raping a white woman in Central Park in 1989, and then later exonerated—was so unhappy that she filed a lawsuit against DuVernay and Netflix demanding unspecified damages and an apology, among other things, for the way she was depicted in the series as a “racist, unethical villain who is determined to jail innocent children of color at any cost.” Well, apparently, Fairstein wasn’t so mad that she was willing to prove in court that she is not, in fact, a “racist, unethical villain who is determined to jail innocent children of color at any cost,” and that’s why the case has been settled and she will be walking away with nothing, according to Ava DuVernay.

Linda Fairstein gets nothing from Netflix and Ava Duvernay. Linda Fairstein railroaded the Central Park 5 and almost destroyed their lives. I can’t imagine their trauma. Personally, I hope Linda goes to hell when she dies. https://t.co/oyqgjzBqaS pic.twitter.com/L0JdPuO39R

— BurnerObservations (@BurnerObserv2) June 5, 2024

From Deadline:

“After years of legal wrangling and millions of dollars spent, [former prosecutor Linda Fairstein] walked away with no payment to her or her lawyers of any kind, rather than face cross examination before a New York jury as to her conduct and character,” the Array founder told Deadline today of the end of the four-year defamation suit that was set for trial to start on June 10. “I believe that Linda Fairstein was responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the Central Park Jogger case that resulted in the wrongful conviction of five innocent Black and Brown boys,” she bluntly said.

She added: “In the days leading up to her defamation trial, Linda Fairstein decided that she was not willing to face a jury of her peers. It’s a phenomenon that often happens with bullies. When you stand up to them, unafraid, they often take their ball and go home.”

Ava posted her full statement to X on Tuesday.

Statement on Linda Fairstein’s Lawsuit for Defamation Regarding Her Depiction in WHEN THEY SEE US. pic.twitter.com/X9yQUAybOi

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 4, 2024

Hours after the case was settled without a dime exchanging hands, DuVernay, Netflix and the ex-Manhattan Assistant District Attorney put out a joint statement on the resolution, saying, “The parties announce that they have resolved this lawsuit. Netflix will donate $1 million to the Innocence Project. Ms. Fairstein will not receive any money as part of this settlement,” Deadline reported. Shortly after that, Fairstein put out her own statement, saying, “The decision to conclude this fight was not an easy one.”

Fairstein—an author who was dropped by her publishing company and her literary agency following the release of When They See Us—spent weeks raging over DuVernay and the series after it was released. She even penned an op-ed piece denying her racism, calling DuVernay a liar and defending her destruction of the lives of  Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise. She agreed with a white-tearsy supporter that she was being “lynched” largely by—*checks notes*—people on the internet. According to DuVernay, the 77-year-old wasn’t included in the process of creating the series because she would only meet with DuVernay for consultation purposes if she got to approve the final script, which Fairstein denied.

Linda Fairstein appeared to be doing a lot of work to clear her name at the time, which makes it a little odd that in the “days leading up” to the trial, she opted to skip the trial rather than say her piece in the only place where it would have mattered.

Do you know what kind of ex-prosecutor is most likely to make that decision? One who can’t prove they’re not a “racist, unethical villain who is determined to jail innocent children of color at any cost.” 

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