Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston is reportedly prepared to sue CNN if they debut “The Hunting Ground”, a documentary about college campus rape that is scheduled to air this Sunday, according to a letter obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
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An FSU student, Erica Kinsman, accused Winston of raping her in his campus bedroom in December 2012.
“We are writing to formally caution CNN that the portions of the file “The Hunting Ground” pertaining to Mr. Winston are false and defamatory to Mr. Winston”, stated the letter addressed to CNN’s Jeff Zucker.
The Hunting Ground features Kinsman giving her account on what happened the night she claims Jameis sexually assaulted her during his freshman year at Florida State. After the Tallahassee Police Department and the university conducted an investigation, Winston was found clear of all charges in the case.
Kinsman filed suit against Winston in April, alleging sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment and “intentional infliction of emotional distress arising out of forcible rape”. He cites an e-mail by producer Amy Herdy to Winston’s accuser’s attorney, where Herdy notes that they “don’t operate the same way as journalists – the film project is very much in the corner of advocacy for victim’s so there would be no need to get the perpetrator’s side” as evidence of actual malice and the producers’ “conscious disregard for the truth”.
“The filmmakers’ complete disregard for journalistic standards of fairness, objectivity and accuracy has, predictably, resulted in a film that, at least with respect to Mr. Winston is inaccurate, false, misleading and defamatory”. Additionally, The Harvard Crimson said that the documentary misrepresents campus sexual assault statistics, while a clip taken from a prank YouTube video is presented as factual.
CNN had not responded to Boudet or FSU as of Friday evening.
“CNN may have persuaded itself that Mr. Winston’s status as a public figure insulates your company from a libel judgment”, states the letter.
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Florida State officials have also asked CNN not to air the documentary. “If CNN decides to proceed with this broadcast, we will perhaps have the opportunity to test that legal proposition in a court of law”. Thrasher was invited by CNN to be on a panel to discuss the documentary, but declined because he believes the film “contains major distortions and glaring omissions to support its simplistic narrative”.
