the newsroom

Aaron Sorkin Responds to Criticisms of The Newsroom’s Campus-Rape Episode

LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS -- Episode 0127 -- Pictured: (l-r) Producer Aaron Sorkin during an interview with host Seth Meyers on November 13, 2014 -- (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)
Photo: NBC

By nearly every measure, last night’s campus-rape episode of The Newsroom was the worst-reviewed episode in the show’s history. The hate-watching got so intense on Twitter that even Newsroom staff writer Alena Smith joined in, saying she was “kicked out of the room and screamed at” when she suggested ditching the plotline. Now Aaron Sorkin tells Mediaite that he doesn’t mind most of the criticism: “[The episode] catalyzed some passionate debate … I’m happy to hear it.” As anyone who’s watched The Newsroom could have guessed, though, Sorkin was not happy to hear that a woman was tweeting details of her private interactions with prominent men. Though Sorkin doesn’t dispute that he kicked Smith out — in his words, he “excused her from the room” — he maintains that her tweets broke the traditional code of silence that surrounds writers’ room discussions. “I’m saddened that she’s broken that trust,” Sorkin said, before giving a patient, world-weary sigh.

Sorkin Responds to Newsroom Writer’s Tweets