00:00Former Central Park 5 prosecutor Linda Fairstein has resigned from multiple boards
00:05following the release of Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries When They See Us
00:09and hashtag CancelLindaFairstein trending on Twitter.
00:13On Tuesday, Fairstein stepped down from the boards of the nonprofit Safe Horizon and Vassar College.
00:18She also reportedly resigned from the boards for God's Love We Deliver and the Joyful Heart Foundation.
00:24When They See Us portrays Fairstein, played by Felicity Huffman,
00:27when she ran the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
00:31In 1989, the prosecutor oversaw the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of five Black and Latino teenagers
00:38â Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Corey Weiss and Youssef Salaam â
00:44after a white woman was attacked while jogging in Central Park.
00:47In 2002, after spending over a decade in prison, the former teenagers were exonerated when the real culprit confessed to the crime.
00:55In an announcement, Vassar College President Elizabeth H. Bradley wrote,
00:59I am told that Ms. Fairstein felt that given the recent widespread debate over her role in the Central Park case,
01:04she believed that her continuing as a board member would be harmful to Vassar.
01:08And in a letter obtained by the New York Post, Fairstein wrote to Safe Horizon,
01:12I do not want to become a lightning rod to inflict damage on this organization because of those now
01:17attacking my record of fighting for social justice for more than 45 years, adding that the series
01:22depicts me in a fictionalized version of events in a grossly and maliciously inaccurate manner.
01:26But this isn't the first time Fairstein has faced backlash for her role in the case.
01:30Last year, after it was announced that she was to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award
01:35at the Edgars, an award ceremony for mystery novelists, Outcry prompted the honor to be revoked.
01:41For more on the controversy surrounding When They See Us, head to THR.com.
01:45And until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Jordyn Rolling.
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