I understood the idea behind putting Nate Parker front and center in the media, months before his film, The Birth of a Nation, was released nation-wide. I understood the PR strategy behind it: the studio knew that Parker’s rape trial would be brought up, so they decided to do on their terms, on their schedule. But I still think that everyone involved with Parker’s PR completely underestimated the sh-tstorm they were unleashing. It’s not even like they’re playing a long game with this either – the film premieres at TIFF in a few weeks. Parker won’t be able to do any press for the film without every journalist asking him questions about the trial transcripts, his alleged stalking and harassment of a rape victim, and why his alleged victim committed suicide. The next four months are not going to be pretty.

Since last week’s barrage of terrible headlines about and around Parker, there were some added stories that I thought I would compile, just as a heads up. Obviously, we’re going to be talking a lot about this for months to come, but for now, Parker is staying somewhat quiet. Other people are speaking though.

The Limits of Empathy. Noted feminist scholar Roxane Gay tweeted about Parker’s trial transcripts last week, then she wrote an op-ed about the situation for the New York Times, which you can read here. She slams Parker for his “staggering solipsism” and for the deeply cynical and manipulative way he presented himself to “get ahead” of the story with Deadline. It’s a great piece.

Al Sharpton is suspicious. You would think that Al Sharpton would have just waited a second to figure out all of the complex components of the story before running to the media. He did not. Sharpton thinks the negative media blitz around Parker is a right-wing conspiracy to get people to avoid watching a film about a slave rebellion. Sharpton told the NYDN: “I want answers. I’m suspicious. The timing and the standard is my concern. If a person is accused of a crime and is acquitted, are we now saying they should not be considered for an Oscar?” Sharpton also spoke to The Root – go here to read.

The Women’s Law Project. The WLP represented Parker’s alleged victim when they were at Penn State together. WLP’s director confirms that because of the victim’s testimony, the WLP filed suit against Penn State after the university failed to do anything about Parker’s harassment of the victim. Basically, the WLP has been trying to get Penn State to completely change their policies around sexual harassment, rape, assault, consent and more for nearly 25 years. You can read that piece here.

Nate Parker’s new/old interview. Variety has a new interview with Parker. “New” as in they haven’t published it before, although Variety makes it clear that the interview took place before Parker spoke to Deadline two weeks ago. You can read the interview here – it’s mostly about the film, but Variety prefaces the interview with some background on what’s been happening in the past two weeks (more on that in just a second). Variety also notes that even before Parker’s Deadline interview blew up, Parker was already doing some damage control over the fact that his old roommate and convicted co-rapist Jean Celestin has a co-writer credit on the film. Like, Parker is trying to distance himself from Celestin now.

Nate Parker is sad. Variety’s sources say that Parker is currently “in a low place” and “He vacillates between thinking the case is resurfacing now after 17 years because of a Hollywood conspiracy against him or just bad luck. He’s disappointed over the backlash on social media and that the African-American online community hasn’t been more supportive. And he’s even mad at himself, for underestimating the public’s interest in a court case that happened so long ago.” Um… didn’t Parker and the studio specifically decide to “get ahead” of the story by doing that sit-down with Deadline? THAT is what started everything. And the reason why Black Twitter isn’t defending an alleged rapist is because people read the trial transcripts, which were brutal and appalling. Variety also quotes a few unnamed directors who are stirring the conspiracies about a campaign to suppress the film, saying that “something is wrong about the way it went down.” No, something went right – people are no longer going to tolerate and give free passes to talented rapists and abusers.

Photos courtesy of WENN.