This week, the exotic dancer who originally claimed that three lacrosse players from Duke University had raped her acknowledged that she made up the 2006 claims that sparked a heated national debate about gender, racism, and class.
Currently serving a jail sentence for second-degree murder, Crystal Mangum said she “made up a story that wasn’t true” against former defendants Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, saying they “didn’t deserve that.”
In an interview that aired this week on podcaster Kate Katerena’s “Let’s Talk with Kat,” she said, “I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong.”
“I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God and that was wrong when God already loved me for who I was.”
On March 13, 2006, Duke lacrosse players hired Mangum and another dancer to perform at their party.
In widely reported accusations that touched on sensitive subjects including sex work, racism, and class, she said that she was raped by players.
