UVA fraternity sues Rolling Stone for $25 million over discredited rape article
A University of Virginia fraternity sued Rolling Stone for $25 million in damages Monday over a now-discredited 2014 article that described a gang rape that allegedly occurred at the house, Reuters reports.
The writer, Sabrina Erdely, is also named in the suit. She used the gang rape accusation, put forth by a victim who only used her first name, as part of a larger narrative about the prevalence of sexual violence on college campuses. Other media outlets and sources quickly questioned the validity of the story's details, and police later said they found no evidence to back up the gang rape described.
"Rolling Stone published the article with reckless disregard for the truth," Phi Kappa Psi said in a statement.
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After the article was published, the university had suspended all campus Greek life. Fraternity brothers and an associate dean have also sued the magazine for defamation.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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