Rolling Stone magazine apologized to readers Friday for discrepancies in an article about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house, saying their trust in the woman who gave the account "was misplaced."
CNN reports Rolling Stone editors made the choice not to contact the man who allegedly "orchestrated the attack on Jackie (the woman who was the subject of the article) nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her," a decision the magazine says it now regrets.
"In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie's account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced," Rolling Stone said.
According to the magazine, Jackie, who at the time had just started her freshman year at the Charlottesville school, claimed she was raped by seven men at Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, while two more gave encouragement, during a party.
However, the University of Virginia's Phi Kappa Psi chapter did not have a party the night of September 28, 2012, the date when the reported attack occurred, the fraternity chapter's lawyer, Ben Warthen, told CNN. He said email records and Inter-fraternity Council records prove there was no party.
Warthen said there were other discrepancies in the accuser's account. For example, the accused orchestrator of the alleged rape did not belong to the fraternity, the fraternity house has no side staircase, and there were no pledges at that time of year.
"It's not part of our culture," Warthen said. "It's just not true."
Rolling Stone's scathing report, detailing not just Jackie's graphic allegation of being raped and brutalized at a fraternity party, but also UVA's supposed indifference to victims of sexual assault, stirred a firestorm on the campus.
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