What was surely expected to be the most important year of Nate Parker's career, has now become his most damning. At this point, everyone knows the screenwriter, director, and star of The Birth Of A Nation was charged and acquitted in 1999 of raping a classmate while attending Penn State.
As the film's October 7 release date approaches, Parker continues to make the usual press rounds in support of the project. His most recent appearance was on the Steve Harvey Show, where he blamed his rape scandal on the media. He said the "salacious" headlines were used against him, and that the journalists writing them had no interest in the "tragedy" or those involved. He poses a question, somehow confusing reporters with therapists: "Are we in the business of headlines or are we in the business of healing?"
Harvey also brought up the suicide of the victim (her sister recently wrote an op-ed calling out those supporting Parker), saying that the media unfairly tied Parker to an event that happened 13 years ago. The "event" he is referring to is her actual suicide. Which was, as her brother has said, directly linked the physical, emotional, and sexual attack on her in 1999.
Pouting and pointing fingers is an easy cop-out, and a total 180 from his original stance on the media's coverage. Ahead, let's compare one of his earlier interviews to his Steve Harvey appearance.
On August 31, Parker attended a private screening hosted by Jawn Murray. The purpose of the post-movie interview was to talk about the themes and takeaways from the movie, but instead, Parker's guilty conscience commanded the conversation. The way he spoke about his allegations and previous college behavior completely contrasts his October 5 conversation with Harvey.
Here, he apologizes for his initial "knee-jerk reaction" to the story coming out. He said his comments were purely "self-serving and selfish." (His first comments on the topic were to Deadline and he said "I have since moved on and been focusing on my family and writing career.") He continues saying, "I'm not proud of the way I was when I was 19. I objectified women... my manhood was defined by how many women I could be with. I was a dog. And that was wrong. I hurt a lot of women, and this was normal for me."
This is the same interview where he blames "male culture" and "hyper-masculinity" for the circumstances that led him to be accused of raping a young woman.
In this appearance, Parker is immediately portrayed in a more positive light than many of his other interviews. The somber tone feels forced. In fact, the title of the video is casually "We are two men talking about rape." Harvey immediately asks Parker to explain what happened that night, but he says that is something he's just not willing to do, presumably because he does not remember exactly what happened that night.
He quickly shifts the spotlight from him, an accused rapist, to the media, and journalists. Admittedly, there are differing calibers of new sources, and headlines can be deceiving. However, it's seems off for Parker to act like those reporting on his acts are the ones committing a crime. He says it is a "tragedy on so many levels."
His only goal has been to "protect his innocence." Harvey finds the whole thing a bit "unfair."
Here's the trailer for The Birth Of A Nation which, regardless of Parker's past and present behavior, has garnered Oscar attention.
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