Netflix documentary focuses on courage of U.S. gymnasts in Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal
A Netflix documentary will focus on the gymnasts who survived abuse at the hands of USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar and the journalists who helped expose the culture that allowed it to continue for so long, according to People.
Allegations against Nassar go back to the 1990s, but he wasn’t arrested until 2016, when an Indianapolis Star report detailing claims against him prompted dozens of women to report similar instances of sexual abuse.
He admitted to using his role as a respected physician to sexually abuse young girls and passing it off as medical treatment.
Amid footage of gymnasts, a waving American flag and chants of “USA! USA!,” the documentary’s trailer displays the words “32 bronze medals,” “38 silver medals,” “34 gold medals,” “500 survivors of sexual abuse.”
Central to the story is the Indianapolis Star reporting that dove into how USA Gymnastics protected abusers.
“It follows the IndyStar reporters as they reveal the extensive coverup that allowed abuse to thrive within elite-level gymnastics, for decades, the attorney fighting the institutions who failed these athletes and the brave whistleblowers who refuse to be silenced,” according to Netflix.
Among Nassar’s accusers are gymnastics stars Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas.
Entertainment Weekly critic Leah Greenblatt applauded the film’s focus on the athletes rather than the abuser.
“What co-directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk rightly focus on here is not the man himself but the young women — Olympians, gold medalists and local amateurs among them — he preyed on,” she writes. “In the process, it grants them something Nassar never did: the right to be not merely victims or objects of prurient fascination, but whole human beings with their own stories to tell.”
The film, per Entertainment Weekly, is scheduled for release June 24.
The full documentary will be available on Netflix starting June 24, but you can check out the trailer now: https://t.co/s0HS8Hk5uy
— Marisa Kwiatkowski (@IndyMarisaK) June 17, 2020
Nassar pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, for which he received a 6o-year sentence. A guilty plea to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in Michigan got him a sentence of 40 to 175 years in prison, ordered by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who famously told Nassar, then 54, “I’ve just signed your death warrant.” More than 150 women publicly confronted him about their abuse during that seven-day proceeding.
He also received 40 to 125 years in prison, to run concurrently, for three counts of criminal sexual conduct.
Neil Linderman is a Tribune-Review copy editor. You can contact Neil at nlinderman@triblive.com.
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