Former prosecutor Linda Fairstein has been dropped by her Hollywood literary agency ICM Partners, another blow in the fallout of Netflix’s When They See Us.
The Ava Duvernay-directed dramatization of the Central Park Five jogger case includes a damaging portrayal of Feinstein’s botched investigation of the five innocent Black boys wrongfully convicted of raping Trisha Meili, who was jogging alone in New York City’s Central Park in April 1989.
Deadline confirmed that ICM Partners cut ties with Fairstein after several successful years as the Hollywood agency ran her post-prosecution career as a bestselling author.
The agency’s move comes a day after Fairstein defended her involvement in the case with a tone-deaf op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, calling DuVernay’s depiction of the case “full of distortions and falsehoods.”
Fairstein has been the main focus of the backlash from the four-part series, which highlights the case’s racist investigation. After losing their innocence and spending six to 13 years in prison each for the crimes, a serial rapist confessed to the crime, freeing the young men and exonerating them. Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson eventually received a $41 million settlement from the city of New York in 2014.
The former prosecutor has already been forced to shut down her social media accounts and resigned from three non-profit boards. She was also recently dropped from her publisher and her Glamour magazine Woman of the Year award from 1993 was rescinded.
ICM Partners has yet to comment on their decision to drop Fairstein.
