Netflix and Ava DuVernay Settle Defamation Lawsuit Brought By ‘When They See Us’ Prosecutor

Caleel Harris, left, Blair Underwood, Ethan Herisse and Marquis Rodriguez in Netflix and Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us.” (Atsushi Nishijima / Netflix)

Netflix and filmmaker Ava DuVernay have settled a defamation lawsuit over the 2019 drama series ‘When They See Us’. The defamation lawsuit was filed by a former New York City prosecutor who did not agree with her portrayal in the limited series “When They See Us.”

The four-part series covered the story of five wrongly convicted Black and Latino teenagers, known as the Central Park Five who were accused of assaulting and raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. The defamation trial was set to start next week, but a deal has now been reached between both parties.

Netflix and DuVernay released a joint statement with the plaintiff, Linda Fairstein outlining the terms of the settlement. As part of the deal, Netflix has agreed to relocate the disclaimer from the end credits to the beginning of the show.

“While the motion picture is inspired by actual events and persons, certain characters, incidents, locations, dialogue, and names are fictionalized for the purposes of dramatization,” the disclaimer reads.

Even though there is no financial settlement with Fairstein, there has also been an agreement to donate $1 million to the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate people who've been wrongly convicted. In her own statement DuVernay expressed how she felt Fairstein played a role in the Central Park Five case going the way it went.

 “I believe that Linda Fairstein was responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the Central Park Jogger case that resulted in the wrongful conviction of five innocent Black and Brown boys,” DuVernay said in her statement.

The former attorney who worked for the prosecution in the Central Park Five case, is played in the Emmy-winning show by Felicity Huffman. She sued Netflix and DuVernay in March 2020 for allegedly displaying her “in a false and defamatory manner in nearly every scene ... in which she appears.”