The storm of an 18 years ago rape charge that is raging through Hollywood and beyond.

[cali]

‘The Birth of a Nation,’ Nate Parker’s Heralded Film, Is Now Cloaked in Controversy

It was supposed to be a corrective to #OscarsSoWhite. The blistering story of a slave revolt that was directed and written by a black artist, Nate Parker, who also stars in the lead role, “The Birth of a Nation” had been positioned as a balm for an industry long criticized for sidelining minorities.

Instead, the film has become clouded by the disclosure of tragic details in a nearly two-decade-old case in which Mr. Parker was accused — and later acquitted — of raping a fellow student while at Penn State. The episode was already known, including by the studio backing the film, but on Tuesday Variety gave it new life by revealing that Mr. Parker’s accuser committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 30.

That disclosure, combined with the revelation of explicit details from the case and a Facebook post by Mr. Parker saying that he had not known about the suicide and was filled with sorrow, prompted a torrent of vitriol against Mr. Parker on social media. It also sent Fox Searchlight, which paid a record $17.5 million to acquire “The Birth of a Nation,” into battle position. There were calls to boycott the film, and in Los Angeles a smattering of posters for “The Birth of a Nation,” depicting Mr. Parker as the rebellion leader Nat Turner, were altered to read “Rapist?” by a street artist. Meanwhile, prominent figures like Spike Lee who had championed the film went silent, speaking volumes.

<snip>

Mr. Parker and his roommate, Jean McGianni Celestin, were brought to trial in 2001. In testimony, the woman said that in August 1999 she passed out at Mr. Parker’s apartment after a night of drinking — they had had consensual oral sex the day before — and awoke intermittently to find first Mr. Parker having intercourse with her, and then Mr. Celestin’s penis in her mouth. The next day, she testified: “I was in too much pain. I couldn’t walk.” In written statements read in court, both Mr. Parker and Mr. Celestin said that the young woman was lucid and consenting throughout the encounter.

A friend of the two men, Tamerlane Kangas, who was visiting them the night of the incident, testified that Mr. Parker beckoned for Mr. Kangas and Mr. Celestin to join him with the woman in sex. After Mr. Celestin did, Mr. Kangas watched them switch positions with her — Mr. Kangas testified that he did not see her move — and left.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/movies/the-birth-of-a-nation-nate-parkers-heralded-film-is-now-cloaked-in-controversy.html


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/16/inside-the-nate-parker-rape-case.html

[still_one]

1. None of this was consensual.

"In 1999 while a sophomore at Pennsylvania State University, Parker and his roommate and wrestling teammate, Jean McGianni Celestin, were accused of raping a fellow Penn State student.[30][31][32] The unnamed accuser claimed that Parker and Celestin raped her while she was intoxicated and unconscious, and harassed her after she pressed charges.[31] Celestin, who co-wrote The Birth of a Nation, was convicted of sexual assault and received a six month prison sentence.[33][34] Celestin was granted a mistrial upon appeal when his accuser refused to testify again.[35] Parker was acquitted on the grounds that he and the victim had engaged in consensual sex prior to the alleged rape.[36] Via the Women's Law Project,[37] Parker's accuser filed a complaint against Penn State for failing to protect her from harassment, which was settled for $17,500.[38] She committed suicide in 2012 after two previous attempts, according to court documents.[36]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Parker

[yeoman6987]

2. Disgusting! I will not see this film just like I can't watch Cosby show anymore.

Or any Mel Gibson movies.

[linuxman]

3. The question is

Will we be asked to overlook this and become rape denialists in the face of subsequent events in order to appear (note the word) progressive?