Controversy continues to simmer around the movie Birth of a Nation and its director and star, Nate Parker.
Parker was charged and later acquitted of raping an 18-year-old woman while he was a student and wrestler at Penn State in 1999; he was acquitted partially because he and the alleged victim had consensual sex before the purported rape. That victim, who has remained anonymous, committed suicide in 2012.
Before the Toronto International Film Festival started up on Sept. 8, there were questions about whether or not Birth of a Nation would screen for audiences because of Parker’s past; in the end, the movie did, but journalists were instructed not to ask questions about the rape accusations or deviate from the movie’s content when interviewing the cast.
At the TIFF press conference for the film on Sept. 11, Parker evaded a question about why he hasn’t apologized to the victim’s family yet, saying it wasn’t the right “forum” to discuss it.
READ MORE: Nate Parker “devastated” after learning of his rape accuser’s suicide
“A lot of people are having trouble separating the artist from the art,” asked New York Times reporter Cara Buckley. “A lot of people felt you should have apologized for what happened 17 years ago to the victim and the family. Why haven’t you, and would you now?”
“I’ve addressed it a few times,” he answered. “I’m sure I’ll address it in different forums,” he said. “This is a forum for the film, this is a forum for the other people who are sitting on this stage. It’s not mine, I don’t own it, it does not belong to me. I definitely don’t want to hijack this with my personal life.”
“I do want to make sure we’re honouring this film and these people in front of you,” Parker continued. “Respectfully, I would just like to… I want to say thank you again to the Toronto International Film Festival for allowing us to be here. I want to continue to celebrate the people that helped make this film possible.”
READ MORE: Gabrielle Union, Birth of a Nation actress, reveals she was raped
WATCH: Roz Weston Addresses Nate Parker Controversy At TIFF
Post-press conference, some journalists had one-on-one interviews scheduled with Parker and Birth co-star Armie Hammer, including CBC’s Eli Glasner and ET Canada‘s Roz Weston. Both found their interviews cut short when their line of questioning strayed into forbidden territory.
Glasner’s interview with Parker was cut short after he asked how Fox Searchlight might have “changed their strategy” following the rape trial.
“I was given five minutes of time. They have someone in the room who will give you the wrap signal when you’re getting close. I was nowhere near that,” Glasner told ET Canada. “But I think when they saw the direction that I was going, and I’m still kind of pushing to get answers on what he has to say about his past and whether he’s changed, that was it.”
When Weston sat down with Hammer, the same thing happened to him. When the ET Canada host tried to ask about the narrative surrounding the movie, Hammer tried to bring it back to the movie’s content itself. So Weston tried again.
“I asked, ‘Do you understand why some people won’t want to see this movie based on Nate Parker’s history?’ he said. “Again, Hammer, who is not the bad guy here, brought it back to the movie. I asked if he knew then what he knows now, would he still take the role… and that’s when he stopped the interview, talking to his personal publicist saying ‘I don’t want to do this.'”
ET Canada was then informed by the film’s publicists that they would not be permitted to interview Hammer.
Birth actor Gabrielle Union, who penned an emotional essay on Sept. 2 about being the victim of rape, was the first person to mention the words “sexual violence” during the press conference. She said that the movie doesn’t solely highlight racial injustice, but should speak to anyone who feels oppressed or maligned by society.
With files from ET Canada
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