On Sunday, CNN is scheduled to air the documentary The Hunting Ground, which explores the rape accusation made against Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston while he was at Florida State. Winston’s lawyer is threatening a lawsuit unless CNN pulls the film from its schedule.
Attorney John Boudet said in a letter obtained by the Hollywood Reporter that the documentary “manipulates, misstates or simply omits facts to present a false narrative.”
“CNN may have persuaded itself that Mr. Winston’s status as a public figure insulates your company from a libel judgment,” the letter says. “If CNN decides to proceed with this broadcast, we will perhaps have the opportunity to test that legal proposition in a court of law.”
CNN surely considered the legal ramifications when it decided to air The Hunting Ground, which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary features the most extensive comments that Winston’s accuser has made in public about the case but does not include Winston’s side of the story, which his lawyer says is “overwhelming evidence the film’s producers consciously and intentionally failed to adhere to any accepted journalistic standards.”
There’s no indication that CNN plans to pull the program. Which means the letter from Winston’s lawyer may serve only to draw more attention to a documentary Winston would prefer no one see.