Danièle Watts speaks out after police detention

Was Django Unchained star a victim of racial profiling?

by Jennie Kermode

Danièle Watts as Coco in Django Unchained
Danièle Watts as Coco in Django Unchained

Django Unchained star Danièle Watts expressed her anger today after being detained by police on suspicion of prostitution, something her husband thinks occurred as a result of racial profiling. The couple were kissing in the street in the Studio City district of Los Angeles when they were approached by police and Watts, who refused to show her ID because she had no legal obligation to do so, was subsequently arrested.

The actress, who is currently filming a romcom with director Morgan Krantz, said she walked away from the police because she knew she had done nothing wrong, but she was then handcuffed - her wrist being cut in the process - and forced into the back of a police car. The police accused her of prostitution, assuming that her white husband must be a customer. "I allowed myself to be honest about my anger, frustration, and rage as tears flowed from my eyes," she said of the conversation that followed. "The tears I cry for a country that calls itself 'the land of the free and the home of the brave' and yet detains people for claiming that very right."

Watts was subsequently released when it became apparent that there was no evidence to support her continued detention. Having been through a similar experience at the age of 16, she has expressed her determination not to be intimidated by official authority figures.

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