The Birth of a Nation: Posters altered to read 'Rapist?' amid Nate Parker rape trial controversy

Fox Searchlight has issued a statement in support of Parker, who was acquitted of rape in 2000

Nate Parker stars in, directs and wrote slave rebellion drama The Birth of a Nation

Posters for The Birth of a Nation have been photoshopped in Los Angeles amid ongoing controversy over director, writer and lead actor Nate Parker’s involvement in a college rape trial.

Parker was accused of raping an unconscious 18-year-old woman in 1999 while he was a student at Penn State University. He was later acquitted but Jean Celestin, his roommate and the film’s co-writer, was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison. He appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial, but the case was thrown out after the victim refused to testify again. She dropped out of college and Parker transferred to Oklahoma.

Reports of his history began circulating earlier this week after the shocking revelation that his accuser killed herself in 2012. Parker, 36, responded to news of the death on Wednesday, writing on Facebook that he was “filled with profound sorrow” and regretted the decisions he made as a teenager.

“I can’t tell you how hard it is to hear this news,” he wrote, adding that he has “changed so much since nineteen” and has “never run from this period in [his] life”.

In the wake of the controversy, right-wing California street artist Sabo has put fake posters up around the city that replace The Birth of a Nation’s title with the word “Rapist?”.

Sabo told The Hollywood Reporter that he found the original posters showing Parker’s character Nat Turner being hung by a US flag “offensive” and became concerned that it would encourage racial violence against white people. “With the country as divided as it is I can only imagine how many people are going to lose their lives after this movie comes out,” he said.

Fox Searchlight paid a record-breaking £17.5 million for The Birth of a Nation, which tells the story of Turner’s 1931 slave rebellion, after it earned a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The company has issued a statement in support of Parker, confirming that it “stands behind him” and is “proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen” as he was “found innocent and cleared of all charges”.

Parker has spent seven years trying to get The Birth of a Nation made and it finally arrives in UK cinemas on 20 January, just in time for Oscars season. Recent reports suggested that Fox was considering pushing back the release for fear that Parker’s past could deter cinemagoers but it has now been confirmed that it will move forward with its original plans, with the film opening in the US nationwide on 7 October.