“Birth of a Nation” filmmaker Nate Parker is not apologizing for the rape case he became embroiled in at Penn State nearly two decades ago, according to a new preview clip from CBS’ upcoming broadcast of “60 Minutes.”
“I don’t feel guilty,” he told Anderson Cooper in his first television interview on the 1999 case.
Parker also said, according to supportive materials released by the show: “I was falsely accused… I went to court… I was vindicated. I feel terrible that this woman isn’t here… her family had to deal with that, but as I sit here, an apology is – no.”
The filmmaker, who also stars in the upcoming movie about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, says it would be unfortunate if people stayed away from his historical drama because of the incident, according to “60 Minutes.”
The controversy amplified when it became known that the woman, whom “60 Minutes” does not identify, who accused Parker and his former classmate and “Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean Celestin of rape committed suicide in 2012.
“I think that Nat Turner, as a hero, what he did in history, is bigger than me. I think it’s bigger than all of us,” Parker said in the interview.
After Cooper asked him whether he thought he did something morally wrong in 1999, Parker said, “As a Christian man… just being in that situation, yeah, sure. I am 36 years old right now… my faith is very important to me… so looking back through that lens… it’s not the lens I had when I was 19 years old.”
The interview airs this Sunday on CBS at 7 p.m. ET/PT.