Original subtitles

(crowd murmuring)

(upbeat music)

♪ ♪

Hurry up, girls! We're about to call places!

Hurry up.

CONTESTANT: Dede, pass me the Vaseline.

Going live in three minutes.

CONTESTANT: Does anybody have a pin?

CONTESTANT: Uh, where is it?

CONTESTANT: Oh, my God, thank you.

CONTESTANT: Is it all right?

CONTESTANT: Toni, where's my makeup bag?

CONTESTANT: You think I need more padding?

♪ ♪

CONTESTANT: Ugh, the strap!

CONTESTANT: Fix your hair, Mary.

MANAGER: Hurry up. Let's go.

The truth is, beauty is just a cover.

It makes things seem better, but it's still a lie.

The truth is, this is the worst day of my life.

I only entered pageants 'cause I was tired

of seeing blonde-haired girls take the crown.

Seeing that as a kid meant

that girls like me were invisible.

Heck no! I was gonna change that.

Well, tell us about yourself, Miss Black Rhode Island.

Me? Well, I just graduated from Coventry High School.

I made the National Honor Society

and varsity cheerleader.

I play softball.

I'm a teen usher at Ebenezer Baptist.

And I hope to be the first Black female president.

(laughs) Hi.

I'm Miss Oklahoma, your roommate.

Oh, hi, I'm mortified.

KYCIA: Kycia. Don't be.

It's all right.

I'm mortified by myself at least six times a day.

Desiree Washington. I talk a lot.

I was voted most talkative in school.

I mean, I'm nervous. Can you tell?

Girl, I'm pinching myself.

I hear Jesse Jackson, Johnny Gill,

and Danny Glover are around here somewhere.

Okay, that would make me shut up.

Wouldn't even remember my name.

KYCIA: Right, 'cause we don't have famous people

like that in Oklahoma.

We do in Rhode Island, but not the good kind.

I didn't realize how big a deal this was.

Oh, it's a big deal.

And we're gonna get in big trouble

if we don't get to rehearsal, like, now.

The Miss Black America franchise was started

because Black women were not presented

in the Miss America Pageant.

You young women are expected to set the standard

for Black beauty and Black excellence.

Today, Miss Black America, tomorrow, Miss America.

Maybe one of us'll be the next Vanessa Williams.

Fun fact, a lot of Black girls wanted

to go to Syracuse University after she won, like a lot.

As contestants of the Miss Black America franchise,

you are required to take an Oath of Positivity.

Would you please stand and recite this with me?

ALL: My actions and my attitude

will always reflect positivity in my mind.

My illustrious smile will always express

the pleasure I receive from living...

All right.

Maybe that sounds like corn right off the cob,

but in that moment, I was celebrating Black women.

I was proud to be one of them.

Later, this man...

- Will always express-- -(bell dings)

DESIREE: Accused Mike of being a serial buttocks fondler

and sued him for $20 million.

♪ ♪

Suzanna, it's not the left. Everyone's turning right.

Kick ball change, jazz square, kick ball change, jazz square.

(gasps) It's Mike!

Ladies, ladies, calm down, calm down.

♪ ♪

MANAGER: Mike.

Thanks for coming. Thanks for doing the promo.

Happy to help shine a light on all this Black excellence.

MANAGER: Mm-hmm, ladies, did you hear that?

Let's show Mike what we've been working on.

Mike, all you'll have to do is recite your lines,

and the girls will do the rest, all right?

Ladies, here we go, five, six, seven, eight, and...

SINGER: ♪ Hey, Black girl ♪

Action, rehearsal.

I'm in a dream day after day.

Beautiful women in such an array.

What can I say?

SINGER: ♪ And I want you to know ♪

MIKE TYSON: You're a nice little Christian girl, huh?

You look like a nice little Christian girl.

Yeah, I am... a girl-- a Christian, I mean, yeah.

MIKE: Do you want to go out tonight?

Um, sure.

MIKE: That means you gotta give me your number

so I can call you later.

-(laughs) - MIKE: Come here, come here.

♪ ♪

(phone ringing)

KYCIA: Hello?

MIKE: Desiree?

KYCIA: It's him, it's him.

- Hello? - MIKE: Is this is Desiree?

Yeah, this is Desiree.

- MIKE: I'm outside. - It's Mike Tyson.

MIKE: Can you come out? I want to see you.

- Right now? - MIKE: Yeah.

- You come up. - Bitch, I'm in rollers.

Maybe my friend Pasha can come with me.

(gasps)

Now, come on.

I just wanna talk.

I don't wanna know Pasha. I wanna know you.

He's probably gonna take you

to one of those celebrity after-parties.

(gasps) You have to go.

Okay.

SINGER: ♪ I'm not that type of girl you're used to ♪

♪ I'm a '90s girl ♪

DESIREE: Oh, no. No, no, no.

PASHA: Who are you?

SINGER: ♪ Who knows just what she wants ♪

-(gasps) - KYCIA: Perfect!

Yes, yes, yes!

- You good. - Yes!

- Okay, go! - PASHA: Go, you're in a race!

♪ ♪

My dad is gonna want a photo of me and Mike Tyson!

(Pasha and Kycia scream)

- PASHA: Oh, my God! - KYCIA: I know!

♪ ♪

NURSE: How may I help you, dear?

I was raped.

DOCTOR: I'm going to insert a speculum

into your vagina to check for internal injuries, okay?

My initial exam shows damage to her introitus.

What does that mean?

DOCTOR: It means that something happened to you.

I've only seen injuries like that in nonconsensual sex.

What if I'm pregnant or--or something?

What if he has a disease?

DOCTOR: The likelihood of pregnancy is unlikely,

given that you're menstruating,

but we will need to run an STD panel,

including an HIV test.

AIDS?

What? I can't.

How is this happening?

I grabbed my camera because I knew

my dad would want pictures of me and Mike.

Can I be anonymous?

I mean, do you have to use my name?

I don't want anyone to know what happened to me.

You'll have to testify.

Publicly.

(soft music)

You don't have to do this.

We can take you home right now.

I'm so stupid.

No, don't say that. This is not your fault.

We can put all this behind us.

I'm so sorry, Mom.

I have to do this.

MARY: Baby...

♪ ♪

"Some African American religious leaders

"are asking Washington to drop the case

for the sake of African American unity."

Un-fucking believable.

It's too much.

There's too many out there with too many opinions.

- Who's gonna protect Desiree? - Mom--

No, you're just a baby, my baby.

Some Black folks will fight us on this.

They don't want us taking away their hero.

CROWD: (chanting) Free Mike, free Mike!

Free Mike, free Mike, free Mike, free Mike!

Mike Tyson has been in the ring before,

but now he must fight his accuser.

He--now he is in the fight of his life,

and I support him 1,000%.

(laughs)

Free Mike Tyson!

♪ ♪

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come...

DESIREE: I don't want to just be the girl who got raped.

I want to be Desiree.

-(school bell rings) - Dez for prez, go Oakers.

Dez for prez, go Oakers.

-(crowd cheering) - REFEREE: Out!

Boo-yah!

I'm still that girl.

When I walked in,

I kept telling myself, "Just look straight ahead.

"Don't cry. Don't cry.

"Don't give him that satisfaction.

Don't let him take another thing."

Please raise your right hand, Ms. Washington.

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

GARRISON: Ms. Washington.

Now, in your own words, please tell the court

about the events that occurred in Mike Tyson's suite

in the early hours of July 19th, 1991.

(hotel lock beeps and clicks)

Wow.

There's three of us in a room half this size at the Omni.

But it's cool.

The girls are so super sweet and--

The TV's in there.

I thought you just needed to grab something

before we go out.

I just wanna talk a little bit.

So tell me about yourself.

Well, I'm 18.

I'm gonna be a freshman in college,

which I'm kind of nervous about.

I mean, I've never been away from home or my sister.

They even honored me in my home church.

Well, not just me, all the graduating seniors.

They're all rooting for us. But I'm gonna make them proud.

You can stop me at any time. I talk a lot.

Yeah, you talk a lot.

I know.

You like birds, right? Pigeons?

So you know a little about me, huh?

My dad, my brother, and my grandfather--

they're all big fans.

You think they'd like me?

Sure, you seem okay.

Okay.

You keep talking like that. You're turning me on.

I...

I'm not that kind of girl.

One-night stands are not my thing.

I don't do that.

Yeah, you're a good Christian girl.

I get it.

I just thought we could have a little fun.

(tense music)

Um... I gotta use the restroom.

Excuse me.

Yeah, sure.

♪ ♪

(toilet flushes)

♪ ♪

SINGER: ♪ Low dark eyes ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Black, shining from tears... ♪

DESIREE: Leave me alone.

Leave me alone.

- MIKE: Don't fight me. - DESIREE: Don't do this.

He started sticking his hands in my vagina

and sucking on my breast,

and then he licked me from my rectum to my vagina.

And then he penetrated me.

♪ ♪

I was trying to squirm away, but just he kept saying,

"Don't fight me. Just relax."

And he kept saying that and saying that, like,

that was the thing at that point.

"Don't fight me. Don't fight me, just relax."

And I was very nervous,

and I said, "I don't do one-night stands,"

and "you don't have a condom on,"

and "Leave me alone.

"I have a future ahead of me.

You're gonna get me pregnant." Don't do this...

I was trying really hard to get away,

but the harder I fought,

the more aggressive and violent he became.

He said, "I don't need a condom."

He says, "We'll just have a baby."

That was the statement he made.

And I'm just like,

"I'm gonna go to college. I don't care who you are.

"I don't care that you're a celebrity.

I just don't do this."

And I made that very, very clear to him.

And he just kept saying over again,

"Don't fight me. Don't fight me."

♪ ♪

You don't love me no more?

♪ ♪

When I met him, I thought he was a nice person.

People are gonna think it's my fault.

A lot of people want to know why you would

show up at a man's hotel room at 2:00 a.m.

He said he needed to grab something.

I thought we were going to a party.

I didn't think anything of it. He's famous.

I don't want to be up here

attacking a successful Black man.

I really don't, but I should be able to go out

with any man and not expect to be raped.

LOUIS FARRAKHAN: You bring a hawk to a chicken yard,

and you wonder why the chickens get eaten up.

You bring Mike to a beauty contest,

and all these fine foxes are parading in front of Mike.

Mike's eyes begin to dance like a hungry man

looking at a Wendy's beef burger or something.

He wants to see if it's as good as it looks.

How was she out at 1:00 in the morning?

- Who'd she tell? - 2:00 in the morning!

2:00 in the morning? That's even worse.

What, you gon' sit in a limo with Mike?

You know, "Honest Mike"?

Come on, sisters.

How many times have you said no,

and you really mean yes all the time?

-(men shouting) - MAN: Bring it on!

LOUIS: No, wait, no, wait,

I'm talking to the women now.

'Cause we gonna talk now!

See, the days of your BS is over!

You're not dealing with a man that don't know you

and the damn deceitful games you women play.

GARRISON: The people call Mary Washington to the stand.

Desiree is--was--

always so happy,

always smiling and dancing.

She was so confident,

the daughter every parent wants.

Then when I saw her after what happened,

she was a different girl.

We took her home, back to Rhode Island.

I hoped that her being around people that loved her

would help bring back her spark.

NINA SIMONE: ♪ You ain't ever gonna fly ♪

MARY: You have another nightmare?

I'm afraid to fall asleep. He's always there.

We're gonna get through this, you and me.

He doesn't get to take anything else from you.

Don't give him that much of your soul.

And you telling the truth?

It's gonna set you free, Desiree.

(Nina Simone's "Blackbird")

NINA: ♪ No place big enough for holding ♪

I'm not Desiree anymore.

Desiree's gone, and she's not coming back.

NINA: ♪ Fly ♪

MARY: She slept in our bed all summer--all summer long--

till it was time for her to go back to college.

The nightmares never stopped.

I just want my daughter back.

GARRISON: Thank you, Mrs. Washington.

No further questions.

REPORTER: Now that the state has rested their case,

Tyson's attorney, Vincent Fuller,

more known as a tax attorney than a criminal litigator,

is gearing up to present his side of the story.

Early polling data suggests many,

including 56% of African Americans,

are on Tyson's side.

This, following the recent high-profile case

of William Kennedy Smith

who was acquitted after lurid details

about his accuser's sex life

were brought into the courtroom by the defense.

And, of course, the Clarence Thomas

Supreme Court confirmation hearings

where Justice Thomas denied his accuser Anita Hill's

claims of inappropriate workplace conduct,

saying he was the victim of a "high tech lynching."

(bluesy music)

Michael G. Tyson's reputation preceded him.

There was not a single attendee at the Black Expo

who was not aware that Mr. Tyson was a vulgarian,

in thrall to his natural carnal instincts,

with a voracious appetite for the fairer sex.

DESIREE: Natural carnal instincts?

It's like he couldn't help himself.

I could see the women in the jury

could see right through it.

Miss Whittington, can you please walk us through

how you came to be acquainted with Mr. Tyson?

I was the Wisconsin representative

in the Miss Black America pageant.

We could all see what he wanted.

Hey, Catholic school, you wanna come to my place?

Come party?

I batted him away.

I like Southern girls.

You like to cook, and I like to eat.

What is she saying?

It was up to me to bat him away?

And when Miss Washington discussed Mr. Tyson,

what did she say?

She said that he's not intelligent,

that he's dumb, ignorant.

Look at the money Robin Givens got.

Mike doesn't know how to speak.

He'll make the money, and I'll do the talking.

VINCE FULLER: Thank you, Ms. Alexander.

♪ ♪

The defense calls Michael G. Tyson.

SINGER: ♪ I'm a freight train ♪

♪ Locomotive ♪

♪ Ooh, stop me now ♪

♪ Lord, Lord, Lord ♪

♪ Stop me now ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ ♪

VINCE: What happened that night?

I called her. And she was tired,

so I said, "Don't worry, just comb your hair,

throw some water on your face."

Then I asked her to wear something short,

like a short dress, or some loose, baggy shorts,

or something like that.

Then she came down to the car, and we started kissing.

After that, we went around the corner to my hotel.

We got upstairs. I sat on the bed.

She was talking.

And we started kissing, and she started getting hot,

she started undressing, and we had oral sex.

Eventually, it graduated to sex.

And afterwards, I invited her to stay.

But she didn't want to stay. She wasn't one of those.

And she asked me to take her downstairs.

And I didn't wanna take her. I was tired.

I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning,

in a couple of hours.

Maybe I should have just walked her downstairs,

you know, Christ.

She just left irritated with me after that.

(heart beating)

VINCE FULLER: Did she ever say no?

MIKE: She did not.

I mean, she says she cried, and she screamed, and all,

but you must understand,

we were in a hotel room in the middle of the night.

Somebody would've heard her.

So what is your version of what happened that night?

She was not raped.

VINCE FULLER: Now take us back once again

to when you met Ms. Washington.

What verbiage did you use to propose your rendezvous?

How did I ask her out?

Yes, sir.

Well, I said I wanted to fuck her.

(crowd gasping and exclaiming)

JUDGE GIFFORD: Order!

DESIREE: Hearing him say those words,

"I wanted to fuck her."

It was like he was trying to define me.

He was trying to take every part

away from me of who I was.

I didn't want to be that girl now.

(tense music)

♪ ♪

"I want to fuck you."

The defendant claims that's what he directly stated

to this 18-year-old high school honors student.

And she just laughs and says, "Yeah, sure, give me a call."

That's the ridiculous fairy tale

the defendant is asking you to accept.

Witness after witness attested

to Miss Washington's clear-eyed goal

to separate a simple man from his money.

She's given slightly different versions

of that night to different people.

She was so desperate to escape that room,

she didn't even put her shoes back on.

Ms. Washington didn't cry out.

In fact, Mr. Tyson was attentive to her needs.

The only part of Miss Washington

that was injured that night was her pride.

She was being treated like a one-night stand.

She went in there thinking she was going

to grab the gold ring and left an embarrassed,

humiliated woman bent on revenge.

GARRISON: "Stay the night," Mike said.

Think about that.

If you want in Mike Tyson's life,

and he makes love to you

and invites you to sleep with him,

how are you rejected?

If you're the little weasel who wants Mike Tyson's money,

wants to be the next Robin Givens,

you've just kicked one through the goalposts.

There's only one victim here, and it's not

the multi-millionaire heavyweight champion.

It's this brave young lady who had the unmitigated gall

to stand up to a man with unlimited power

and resources and tell the truth.

(soft music)

If you believe

this beautiful,

honest kid got deceived by a professional deceiver,

was lied to, schmoozed, romanced, isolated,

and raped,

then guilty must be your judgment.

♪ ♪

That's all.

♪ ♪

Thank you.

ANCHOR: As jury deliberations continue,

Tyson's supporters keep vigil

outside the Indianapolis courthouse.

Somebody in that hotel would have

heard something if there had been a rape.

Mike Tyson has done some bad things,

but he didn't rape nobody.

She raped herself.

I've done a lot of research,

and it's physically impossible to rape a woman

who isn't, shall we say, ready.

From where I'm standing, this isn't a crime,

just an unfortunate incident.

You really feel hatred, you know.

That becomes a part of you, too.

I don't know yet if that'll ever go away.

So... you know.

(distant people chanting)

ALL: No means no! We believe Desiree!

No means no! We believe Desiree!

No means no!

We believe Desiree! No means no!

We believe Desiree!

(knocking on door)

We believe Desiree!

BARB: The jury's back.

(tense music)

JUDGE GIFFORD: Has the jury reached a verdict?

Yes, we have.

♪ ♪

As to count one, rape,

we the jury find the defendant Michael Tyson...

guilty.

♪ ♪

Count 2, guilty.

DESIREE: I did it.

JUDGE GIFFORD: Count three...

DESIREE: I survived it, just like Mom said I would.

They tried to break me, but...

Now what?

BARBARA WALTERS: The day after the rape,

you went back to the pageant and participated.

You danced in it. How could you do that?

I'm not a quitter.

If I were a quitter,

I would have never gone through with this trial.

This is what happened. This is the truth.

What are your feelings towards Mike Tyson?

I pity him. That's all I can feel for him.

After he did what he did, he said to me,

"Don't you love me now?"

And all I could think is, this man is sick.

If I saw him today, I would tell him,

"You hurt me real bad. I didn't do this to hurt you.

"I didn't do this to take your career away.

"I did this because you need help,

"and if your so-called friends aren't big enough

to tell you that, then I will."

You've said this is the only interview

you're going to do,

but are you going to write a book?

I have no plans to write a book.

This is the last time I will address society.

Desiree was so sweet.

She was voted friendliest in our school.

No one brings it up.

But everybody knows what happened to her.

- I heard she changed her name. - And her face.

But that's just, like, a total rumor.

And her parents got divorced.

Everyone's parents get divorced.

But yeah, it was so sad.

Mike wasn't gonna get no fair trial!

Successful Black man in a white man's court?

HARD COPY HOST: What Tyson didn't know is,

his words were caught on a hot mic.

I should've just killed that slimy bitch.

(slow-motion) I should've just killed that slimy bitch.

DON KING: That was a response to an uppity lady reporter

who asked a ridiculous question.

Nothing to do with that other woman.

Now, this conviction was all a plot

by a racist, corrupt justice system

to imprison the greatest man America has ever produced...

BOTH: A true hero.

SINGER: ♪ Not that, not that, not that ♪

♪ Not that, not that type of girl ♪

♪ You're used to ♪

♪ I'm a '90s girl ♪

♪ I'm that type of girl ♪

♪ Who knows just what she wants ♪

♪ I'm not that type of girl ♪

♪ You're used to ♪

♪ I'm a '90s girl ♪

♪ I'm not that type of girl ♪

♪ I'm not that ♪

♪ That girl ♪

♪ Daddy used to tell me ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Not to fall in love too fast ♪

♪ ♪

♪ He said, "Baby, take your time" ♪

♪ ♪

♪ "If you want a love that lasts" ♪

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