Columnist: 'Confirmation' Biased Against Clarence Thomas
PHILADELHIA (CBS) - Mediaite columnist Joe Concha accused the HBO film 'Confirmation' of a biased portrayal of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearing that made national headlines after sexual harassment charges were leveled against him by Anita Hill, who had previously worked under him at the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.
Concha, during an interview with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, believes HBO and Actress Kerry Washington, who plays Anita Hill, deliberately intended a biased re-telling of this story.
"HBO now is in the business of re-writing history favorable to Democrats. We saw it with 'Confirmation,' starring somebody like Kerry Washington, who was in charge of the content, which made this movie extremely sympathetic to Anita Hill."
He pointed out that, at the time, a majority of Americans believed Thomas had not acted inappropriately toward Hill.
"One big fact that they decided to omit, it's a pretty big fact. There was a poll done in October of 1991...A CBS/New York Times poll found that by more than a two to one margin, the American public believed Clarence Thomas over Anita Hill, but if you watch this movie, you walk away thinking, my God, I can't believe that Anita Hill wasn't believed and Clarence Thomas obviously is guilty."
Concha also said Hill's involvement with this movie is another indicator the film is prejudiced against the Supreme Court Justice.
"My gripe with the movie is the fact that you leave something like [the CBS/New York Times Poll] out or the fact that Anita Hill, herself, was doing press for this film, meaning she probably liked what she was hearing when it came to it."
