Things get tense between Nate Parker and Robin Roberts during interview about rape

On "Good Morning America," Nate Parker absolutely refused to apologize for the controversial rape case for which he was acquitted seventeen years ago.

TheGrio Staff

Oct 4, 2016

During an interview on “Good Morning America,” Nate Parker absolutely refused to apologize for the controversial rape case for which he was acquitted seventeen years ago.

“I was falsely accused,” he insisted in speaking with “GMA” co-host Robin Roberts. “I was proven innocent and I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Parker and his college roommate, Jean Celestin, were both accused of raping an 18-year-old woman at Penn State University. Parker was acquitted, though Celestin was convicted of sexual assault. The conviction was later overturned.

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“You have a daughter in college … what do you tell her?” Roberts asked of the rape charge.

“She knows how I feel about her and I’ve addressed it so many times,” Parker replied.

He then insisted that the focus should not be on him but on his new movie, Birth of a Nation.

“I think the important thing, you know, is this isn’t about me,” Parker said. “The story of Nat Turner as an American, as American people, the story about a man who was erased from history, at some point. I think that’s where our focus should be.”