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Netflix now has to prepare for a legal battle in the near future. Linda Fairstein‘s, the former prosecutor who played a huge role in the Central Park Five being wrongfully convicted, defamation lawsuit against the streaming service over her portrayal in When They See Us has been deemed justified by a New York federal judge. According to Bloomberg Law, there are five scenes in the movie that mischaracterize Fairstein and justify her defamation lawsuit against them. Fairstein felt that there were 11 scenes in the film, which was directed by Ava DuVernay, that portrayed her as racist and unethical but the judge ruled there were only five.
Fairstein, who was played by Felicity Huffman in the film, was the chief of the sex crimes prosecutions unit in the New York County District Attorney’s Office back in 1989, when she prosecuted Kevin Richardson, Antron Mccray, Raymond Santana Jr., Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam for the rape of Trisha Meili. They were all exonerated when Matias Reyes confessed to Meili’s attack. The five men then filed a civil lawsuit against the city which was settled for $41 million in 2014.
Fairstein filed the lawsuit against DuVernay, co-writer Attica Locke and Netflix last year. After When They See Us was released in May 2019, Fairstein also wrote a hostile op-ed criticizing DuVernay in The Wall Street Journal.
“Throughout the film series, Ms. Fairstein is portrayed as making statements that she never said, taking actions that she did not take — many of them racist and unethical, if not unlawful — in places that she never was on the days and times depicted,” the suit continues. “On a number of occasions, Ms. Fairstein is portrayed using inflammatory language, referring to young men of color as ‘thugs,’ ‘animals’ and ‘bastards,’ that she never used.”
