Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series “When They See Us” which is a four-part series focused on the Central Park Five, has been met with plenty of praise. DuVernay’s project tells the story of the five teenagers — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana Jr., and Korey Wise — who were wrongly convicted of rape and assault.
During the series, there are clips looking back at President Donald Trump — who was then just a brash, billionaire business mogul in New York City — taking out a full-page ad to call for the death penalty.
Of course, the renewed focus on the case led to the White House press pool asking Trump about his past comments from the highly-publicized case.
CNN’s April Ryan asked Trump about his thoughts on the 1989 case and, well, people were less than pleased with his response.
“Why do you bring that question up now?” Trump retorted. “It’s an interesting time to bring it up. You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case. So, we’ll leave it at that.”
That led to Ava DuVernay being asked her thoughts on the president’s remarks.
Not only was the director not surprised by Trump’s retort, but she was also very dismissive of what he had to say.
“It’s expected,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s nothing he says or does in relation to this case or the lives of black people or people of color that has any weight to it. It’s not our reality, there’s no truth to it. I wish I had a more juicy sound bite, but I don’t care.”
When They See Us is currently available to stream on Netflix.
