Trump, asked by @AprilDRyan if he would apologize for his remarks on the Central Park Five, does not apologize and adds: "You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt."
Via Fox pic.twitter.com/sXXFGtnEMU— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 18, 2019
While May ended with the premiere of Ali Wong’s Netflix comedy, Always Be My Maybe, it also saw the debut of director Ava DuVernay’s gut-wrenching mini-series, When They See Us. Netflix recently self-reported that the Oprah Winfrey-produced series quickly became its most-watched original program in the U.S. since its premiere. While real-life figures like Linda Fairstein have faced new consequences for their involvement in the Central Park 5’s story, however, President Donald Trump has not.
Back in 1989, Trump infamously took out a full-page ad in the New York Daily News that called for the death penalty in relation to the case, which saw several African-American and Hispanic-American teenagers accused of raping a white woman in Central Park. On Tuesday, reporter April Ryan asked Trump during a brief media scrum if he was going to apologize in light of renewed interest in the case after When They See Us. Unsurprisingly, he will not.
“Why do you bring that question up now? It’s an interesting time to bring it up,” he said. “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 never should have settled that case.”
The five men had previously sued the city of New York for damages, and in 2014, were awarded about $40 million total. (They also received an additional $3.9 million in a subsequent case.) Despite these settlements and the DNA exonerations, however, Trump stood by his comments in 1989, repeatedly, whenever the subject was brought up during the 2016 presidential election.
The reactions to Trump’s comments, especially his use of his all-too-common “both sides” argument, was quite swift.
@realDonaldTrump just answered will he apologize on The Central Park Five. Another both sides of the issue answer
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) June 18, 2019
“You have people on both sides of that” – Trump just now when asked by @AprilDRyan if he’d apologize to the 5 innocent young men in the Central Park jogger case. They were NEVER guilty of the attack they were imprisoned for & were fully exonerated. He called for their execution.
— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) June 18, 2019
Asked by @AprilDRyan whether he has reconsidered his rash demand for the death penalty for the five teens who had since been exonerated of all charges in the 1989 Central Park jogger case, President Trump sided with Linda Fairstein and fellow denialists. pic.twitter.com/tXYGsRGeWU
— Jamil Smith جميل كريم (@JamilSmith) June 18, 2019
It’s as if Trump thinks he’s talking about freaking pancakes! Like with Charlottesville, there are no “both sides” to the Central Park Five. There is only right and wrong. https://t.co/ukMuuibhCh
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) June 18, 2019
Put aside "both sides" construction. In 1989, then-private citizen Trump placed ad calling for death penalty for Central Park 5 (all teenagers at time). 1) Horrific as it may be, rape has never been death-penalty offense in NY. 2) THEIR CONVICTIONS WERE VACATED 17 YEARS AGO. https://t.co/Iaw90YtQJu
— Robert X George (@RobGeorge) June 18, 2019
Trump’s refusal to apologize in his very public role in calling for the death of the Central Park 5, who were found wrongly convicted by DNA among other things, is trash. https://t.co/SFVrwwWhOK
— Atima Omara (@atima_omara) June 18, 2019
