(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Crystal Mangum, a former strip-tease dancer, admitted Wednesday that she falsely accused three Duke Lacrosse players of raping her at a team party.
On the Let’s Talk with Kat podcast, Mangum came clean and said she lied about her March 2006 story that then-students David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann raped her because she wanted attention, according to the Duke Basketball Report.
“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong, and I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum told host Katerina DePasquale. “[I] made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”
More than 18 years after the Duke lacrosse allegations, Crystal Mangum admits that she made it all up.
"I testified falsely against [the lacrosse players] by saying that they raped me when they didn't…I made up a story that wasn't true…I hope that they can forgive me." pic.twitter.com/3yMjbQTQXH— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) December 12, 2024
DePasquale interviewed the Duke lacrosse hoaxer from Raleigh’s Central Prison, where she has been confined since her 2013 conviction for killing her boyfriend, the outlet noted.
Mangum is set to be released in 2026.
Mangum referenced God again when she was setting up the interview, according to the Duke Chronicle, saying, “[I]t’s been on my heart to do a public apology concerning the Duke lacrosse case. I actually lied about the incident to the public, my family, my friends and to God about it, and I’m not proud about it.”
Then-North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, now the state’s outgoing governor, ultimately dropped all charges against Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann.
He declared the three lacrosse players “innocent” and blasted the media circus that rushed to accuse them of guilt.
Falsely accusing a man of rape makes it harder for real rape victims to come forward and get real justice. It further puts a stigma around the neck of women abused by men.
Crystal Mangum deserves everything she gets. https://t.co/7GYvuAGRu7
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) December 13, 2024
The former lead prosecutor of the case, then-Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, resigned in disgrace.
In June 2007, Duke University reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the three victims of Mangum’s lie.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
