An actor who accused Los Angeles police of racial profiling when they investigated a report she was having sex with her boyfriend in a parked car has seen her efforts to apologise rejected by a court.
Danièle Watts, who appeared as a slave in the Quentin Tarantino revenge western Django Unchained, was told to apologise as part of a plea deal in return for the court dropping charges of lewd conduct against the actor and her boyfriend Brian James Lucas, who is white. The pair escaped the threat of a six-month maximum jail term and were instead sentenced to 40 hours of community service in May.
Watts tweeted the apology, which she said had been rejected by the court, on Thursday. The letter, addressed to Sergeant Parker, Officer Saldana and Officer Arce, does not include the words “apology” or “sorry” and instead focuses on Watts’ own feelings of “fear, shame and anxiety” during the incident. The actor explains that when Parker told her: “Thank you for bringing up the race card, I never hear that”, in response to one of her comments at the scene she felt provoked due to her “many disheartening experiences related to ‘being black’ both in my personal life and as reflected in society overall”. She does, however, thank the officers for helping to provide an opportunity “for the public to discuss, and more deeply understand the ‘taboo’ subject of interracial relationships”.
I came from my heart today and wrote the most sincere apology letter I could muster and the court denied it. pic.twitter.com/miUZyoaj5n
— watts ☆ playing (@danielewatts) August 6, 2015
Lucas, a celebrity chef known as Chef Be*Live The Original RawkStar, also tweeted the letter, noting it had not been accepted by the court. He also tweeted a separate apology letter from the pair to people working near the site of the incident outside CBS studios in the Studio City area of Los Angeles. The note reads: “We are truly sorry that our expression of love caused such a disturbance to your lives that you felt it was threatening enough to warrant police involvement. I felt deeply hurt and ashamed by your judgments, which felt very unfair at the time, and provoked me to react to police presence in a heightened way - which may have further disturbed your working environment. For all disturbances, we ask for your forgiveness and understanding.”
This was one of the apology letters that @danielewatts and I submitted to court and it was denied! It is heartfelt! pic.twitter.com/gX8e5o3TuN
— Chef BeLive (@ChefBeLive) August 6, 2015
The second letter was also deemed unacceptable by officials. It is unclear whether Watts and Lucas have so far provided an apology which the court is willing to accept.
