“I understand, I’d be a hypocrite to say I don’t…”— Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Union Speaks On “Birth Of A Nation” Remember when we told you that Gabrielle Union offered her take as a sexual assault survivor on the resurfaced Nate Parker rape allegations ? Well Gabby is speaking further on his film “Birth Of A Nation” and stating that while she understands why some folks refuse to watch, she’s still standing behind it. Union plays a slave in the film who’s raped. E! News reports: “I say, for a lot of different reasons this film’s going to be difficult to see for a lot of people, and I get it,” Union, who wrote about her own rape and the Parker controversy in a powerful essay for the Los Angeles Times, tells me. “There are movies I sit out, so I understand and I’d be a hypocrite to say I don’t. “But I would say this movement that this film has inspired includes our issues,” she continued. “That is my sole purpose, and I’ve been by joined by so many advocates and allies on our cast and worldwide who say this is uncomfortable and everything makes me so angry, but I recognize that there is a movement that I want to be a part of, and that movement is education about sexual violence, toxic masculinity, misogyny, rape culture. I want to be a part of that.” Nate Parker also spoke on his film and danced around a question about people skipping out on it. Parker didn’t directly address the sexual assault allegations when I asked about those who have decided to skip what he has called a “labor of love” and a “passion project.” He first praised the 400 people involved in the making of the movie. “My hope is that we can recognize that films are very difficult to be made, and then furthermore, that this film is hopefully more than a film, that it’s an opportunity to be parlayed into a movement that we can look at this and say, ‘Yeah there was the film, but after the film I had this conversation,’” Parker said. “You know, after the film I talked to my kids and said, ‘You know what son, or daughter, this is how you should move forward, or this is what this type of integrity looks like when it comes to standing up for people around you.’” Will YOU be going to see “Birth Of A Nation” on October 7??? WENN
