Sarah goes deep on the Duke lacrosse rape scandal — the complicated true story, the troubled woman who filed the claims, the abdication of due process, and the false narrative promoted by key figures including Duke faculty members calling themselves the “Group of 88.” The goal was to exact justice “regardless of the truth.” A bunch of preppy white athletes needed a historical comeuppance, though it didn’t work out like that.
“People who lie endorse lies,” Nancy suggests, before giving a big huzzah to a recent New Yorker piece asking why we valorize trauma and what happens when we do. In her own reporting, Nancy has seen how lies like that result in dead kids.
Nancy engages in some mouth-frothing over the Fabulist of the Week, a writer on Grey’s Anatomy who faked cancer for years, while Sarah shares a story about her run-in with New York Times fabulist Jayson Blair, and we bond over childhood fibbing: Nancy said she was related to the Osmonds, and Sarah told people she had a phone date with River Phoenix. Ten minutes after we wrapped, Nancy remembered the phrase she couldn’t quite get during the episode: “Don’t fight for your limitations.” Don’t!
Episode notes:
“The Duke Lacrosse Scandal in Retrospect,” by Geoffrey Shullenberger (Wesley Yang Substack)
Group of 88 (Wikipedia)
“The Readers Strike Back,” by Gary Kamiya (Salon)
Things Fell Apart, podcast by Jon Ronson
Fantastic Lies, ESPN 30 for 30 episode on Duke lacrosse scandal
“Trayvon Martin, 10 Years Later,” Glenn Loury and John McWhorter on The Glenn Show (YouTube)
What Killed Michael Brown? documentary by Shelby Steele and Eli Steele
“The Case Against the Trauma Plot,” by Parul Sehgal (New Yorker)
The Big Book, by Bill W.
“Beyond ‘Infinite Jest’” by DT Max (New Yorker)
William Langewiesche, author page at the Atlantic
“How Childbirth Caused My PTSD,” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Salon)
“Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 1,” by Evgenia Peretz (Vanity Fair)
“To Tell You the Truth: As the journalism world feeds on its own frenzy, SARAH HEPOLA confronts an intimate past with exposed Times fabricator Jayson Blair, and her own history of exaggeration.” (The Morning News)
“Blair’s Battle With the Bottle” (NY Post)
“No Exit Plan: The Lies and Follies of Laura Albert, a.k.a., JT Leroy,” by Nancy Rommelmann (LA Weekly)
“Sacrificing Rebecca: For 14 years, Laurie Recht struggled with her daughter's illness. At least, that's what she wanted people to believe,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Willamette Week)
“How ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’ Scammed a Houston Widow Out of $800K by Claiming He Was Trapped in Scientology” by Tony Ortega (Daily Beast)
“Who’s the Bad Art Friend?” by Robert Kolker (NYT Magazine)
Sam Houston statue in Huntsville, TX
Outro music: “Relator” by Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson
Smoke ’Em If You Got ’Em sends our best from the past week on the road:
10: Fabulists!