Daniele Watts is sticking to her story, or at least she’s refusing to apologize for her lies.
In a statement released by her publicist, Watts refused to apologize to the LAPD, the activists, or anyone else for that matter.
The 28-year-old actress, known for her role as Coco in Django Unchained , ignited a small firestorm of controversy when she claimed LAPD officers of profiling her because she is in an interracial relationship. The complaints stem from an incident on September 11, in which Watts and her boyfriend were questioned by officers.
While Watts and her boyfriend initially claimed the encounter was racially motivated — Watts is black and her boyfriend is white — a different story emerged shortly after the couple went public with the accusations. LAPD representatives quickly said the officer who detained Watts was responding to telephone reports by a citizen of lewd behavior in the area. Reportedly, the description given to police matched Watts and her boyfriend. In the full audio of the encounter released by the LAPD, Watts yelled at the officer about her publisher, accused him of serving detainment, repeatedly referenced her publicist, and attempted to convince the officer to speak to her father. The audio also proved that it was Watts who introduced the idea of race into the situation, not the officer who questioned her.
Just after the LAPD response, civil rights activists in Los Angeles publicly stated support for Daniele Watts, and demanded an investigation into race relations between the LAPD and citizens of minority descent.
Then TMZ released photographs taken by the citizen who called the cops on Watts and her boyfriend, Brian Lucas. According to TMZ , Watts is clearly straddling Lucas with the car door open as described by police officers and the citizens who reported Watts and Lucas. While the photographs are racy, both Watts and Lucas insist that the photos prove they were only making out, not having sex.
Following the release of the photographs, the tide of sympathy turned firmly against Watts. The turn culminated in the civil rights activists who initially supported Watts demanding that she apologize to the LAPD and the community for her very public accusations.
Now Lucas and Watts are claiming that this is not the first time they have been profiled by police for being an interracial couple. According to Lucas, he and Watts were stopped in Texas. Allegedly, the officer claimed that he was stopping Watts because he was speeding, then questioned whether or not Lucas and Watts really knew one another and whether or not either of them used drugs.