Alex Pinkleton, a junior at the University of Virginia who was quoted in the botched Rolling Stone story about an alleged gang rape on the campus, said the author of the article has reached out to her since it began to fall apart under scrutiny.
The author, Sabrina Erdely, has gone underground as of late, avoiding public appearances and declining interviews from other reporters.
“She has contacted me since the article and in recent weeks, yes,” Pinkleton who claims to be a rape survivor and friend of Jackie (the name of the girl at the center of the Rolling Stone piece), said Sunday on CNN.
“I am under the impression that she just wants to know what’s going on and I think that’s a fair question because I think there’s a lot of confusion of what happened that night [of Jackie’s alleged rape] and she, like everyone else, wants to know,” Pinkleton said. “I basically can’t tell anyone else any more than what I’ve already said.”
She said she has yet to respond to Erdely. “I am in the middle of exams … so, I really don’t have that much time to talk to her.”
Discrepancies in Jackie’s account of her alleged attack rose shortly after the story was published. It also came to light that Erdely had not attempted to contact the men Jackie claims gang raped her. Furthermore, Jackie’s friends have disputed details of the Rolling Stone report.
Rolling Stone has distanced itself from the report and is currently re-investigating the story.
