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Not Sorry: Actress Daniele Watts Won't Apologize for Racism Claim

Daniele Watts claimed she was racially profiled when she was handcuffed during a police stop, but audio showed she brought up race, not the cop.
Image: Actress Danielle Watts
Actress Danielle Watts arrives at a screening of Tribeca Film's "Struck By Lightning" at the Chinese Cinema 6 Theaters on January 6, 2013 in Los Angeles, Calif. Kevin Winter / Getty Images file

An actress who was detained by Los Angeles police is refusing to apologize for claiming race played a role in the incident, despite calls from local civil rights leaders.

Daniele Watts issued a statement late Friday through her publicist after civil rights activists demanded that she apologize for suggesting she was handcuffed for kissing her white boyfriend in public.

Watts and boyfriend Brian Lucas were questioned last week by officers investigating a report of lewd conduct in a parked car. Watts, who is black, refused to provide identification. She was briefly handcuffed until police identified her. The incident went viral after she and Lucas claimed on their Facebook pages that the detention reflected racial profiling. Audio later surfaced that indicated it was Watts who introduced race to the interaction with police.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who initially rallied behind the actress, said she "cried wolf" in this instance. "I was one that was very outspoken about it," he told reporters. "We take racial profiling very seriously. It's not a play thing. It's not trivial." Watts made no mention of race in her statement, but she maintained that she wasn't obligated to present identification to police.

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— The Associated Press