Nate Parker slams the media over coverage of rape controversy

Nate Parker slammed the media coverage of the rape controversy surrounding him in a new interview with Steve Harvey.

Oct 6, 2016

Nate Parker slammed the media coverage of the rape controversy surrounding him in a new interview with Steve Harvey, accusing those who were reporting on the rape charges from 17 years ago of not caring about anyone involved.

“What are these journalists trying to do? Do they care about anyone involved? Do they care about what we’ve been talking about?” Parker asked before adding, “Are we in the business of headlines or are we in the business of healing?”

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Harvey then replied, “The media picked it up and began to run with it If you are a black man in this country and you are accused of raping a white woman, your chances of walking out of that courtroom are slim to none. To tie all of that back to you (13 years later), it’s not right. I find that to be just a bit unfair.”

Parker also spoke to his regret for how he handled finding out that the woman that had accused him of rape killed herself in 2012.

“When this happened, and I spoke to it, it was insensitive. I caught a lot of flak for it, for being indignant and saying, ‘I’m innocent. I was falsely accused so that’s that!’ — not realizing that, one, there should be empathy for any woman,” he said. He then added, “We need to talk about something that is epidemic in America that no one’s talking about. If my film or if this moment has to be something that puts our eyes and the spotlight on it, then so be it — and that is sexual violence against women by men in this country. Guess what? The media ain’t covering that.”