‘Friend of Jackie’: Rolling Stone Article Did Harm to Potential Victims; Encourages Frat Lawsuit

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Alexandria Pinkleton, a friend of the woman known as “Jackie” that claimed she was a victim of rape by a University of Virginia fraternity in a November 2014 Rolling Stone magazine story by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, warned that the improprieties in the reporting of that story have done harm to potential victims of rape.

“I definitely think she did do a lot of harm to potential victims who haven’t disclosed to friends or to the administration, who she painted as covering up sexual assault and being heinous people that when you tell them about assault they’re protecting the university more than safety of students,” Pinkleton said.

Pinkleton denied the reports that the administration was generally complacent when it comes to rape allegations and that Erdely should have to answer for suggesting otherwise.

“It’s really harmful now for people to talk about the administration as … maybe they don’t support student asks are covering up sexual assaults which is completely untrue,” Pinkleton added. “And I do think Sabrina deserves some sort of ramifications. And I’m sure she’s getting those in other way than being fired. I’m not sure who would trust her at this point with a story. I know from personal experience that I would not recommend it.”

Pinkleton added she thought the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity was justified in taking legal action against Rolling Stone magazine.

“I think they definitely should,” she said. “I think they deserve everything that they get to be honest because I think this was definitely an unfair portrayal of them. It should not have been published, the article itself. And this is not something — as a sexual assault advocate, we are never advocating for accused to be vilified in the media. That is not something we advocate for. I don’t advocate for knowing who the perpetrator is. If i do, i don’t pass judgment towards them. My job is solely – if someone tells me they’re sexually assaulted — to validate their story, validate their pain, and then give them the proper resources. Let the authorities ask the questions.”

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