Ava DuVernay: Trump’s refusal to apologize to Central Park Five ‘expected’

Director Ava DuVernay said late Tuesday President Trump’s refusal to apologize for calling for the execution of five teens for an assault they were later exonerated for was “expected,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s expected,” said DuVernay, the director of “When They See Us,” a Netflix miniseries dramatizing the so-called Central Park Five’s conviction, imprisonment and eventual exoneration that has reignited public interest in the case.

{mosads}”There’s nothing he says or does in relation to this case or the lives of black people or people of color that has any weight to it. It’s not our reality, there’s no truth to it,” she continued.

“I wish I had a more juicy sound bite , but I don’t care,” she added, according to the publication.

Trump, who spent $85,000 on ads in 1989 calling for the execution of Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise before their trials, appears in archival footage in the Netflix series saying he “hates” the teens.

The five were convicted in the brutal rape and assault of a jogger in Central Park after signing confessions they have maintained were coerced. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after serial rapist Mattias Reyes confessed to the assault and they were cleared by DNA evidence.

On Tuesday, Trump was asked by White House correspondent April Ryan if he would apologize to the men. Trump responded” “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt.”

Trump argued in 2016 that the men were guilty, despite the exoneration and a record $41 million settlement with the city.

Since the series’ release in late May, Linda Fairstein, who oversaw the prosecution, has resigned from several charitable boards. Another prosecutor, Elizabeth Lederer, left her part-time position at Columbia Law School last week.