Victim advocacy organizations in New Hampshire and nationally are calling for ABC’s Good Morning America to cancel its interview with convicted sex offender Owen Labrie, less than a month after his release from jail.
The New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence kicked-off its social media campaign this past Tuesday, the morning after ABC teased the interview with Labrie during a commercial break of its prime-time dating show The Bachelorette.
“Why is ABC giving convicted rapist Owen Labrie a platform to claim his innocence? As the judge in his case stated, Owen is ‘a very good liar.’ As Owen stated himself: ‘you deny until you die.’ #MeToo #NOMORE #OwenLabrie #IHaveARightTo,” a portion of the coalition’s tweet read.
That tweet and a series of other social media posts began a conversation that quickly caught the attention of national victims rights groups to include Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE), National Network to End Domestic Violence, End Rape On Campus, National Sexual Violence Resource Center, NO MORE, and Love is Respect. In addition to those organizations, coalitions in Mississippi, Montana and Colorado; several New Hampshire survivors; U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster and state representatives continue to weigh in with their own posts and calls for the network to rethink its decision.
The taped interview with Labrie was advertised Monday night to air during Thursday’s Good Morning America but never did. When contacted by the Monitor, a publicity manager at ABC news declined to comment Friday about why the interview did not air as advertised. The network would also not say whether the interview will air at a future date and, if so, when.
Labrie was convicted in 2015 of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman at St. Paul’s School in Concord as part of the “Senior Salute,” a game of sexual conquest in which upperclassmen competed for intimate encounters with younger pupils. A jury found him guilty of using a computer to pursue the girl in spring 2014. He was also convicted of misdemeanor statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child, but acquitted of felony-level sexual assault.
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