Chris Hansen Breaks Silence: The Dark Aftermath of a To Catch a Predator Sting That Shocked the Nation
Chris Hansen—yes, the very same guy who made nighttime TV a little more nerve-wracking for alleged predators—has thrown some serious shade at the new film Primetime. The flick, already buzzing with Oscar talk thanks to Robert Pattinson’s spot-on portrayal of Hansen, dives into the dark waters stirred by the notorious To Catch a Predator sting operation. Now, here’s a twist: the film’s centered around an Esquire story highlighting the tragic suicide of Bill Conradt, a Texas assistant district attorney caught up in the sting. Hansen, however, isn’t holding back—calling the movie’s source material a “hit piece” and an insult to those fighting to protect children. So the question is, should Primetime have dialed Hansen up before rolling cameras, or is Hollywood just fine spinning its own dramatic yarn—even if it ruffles some feathers? Hang tight; things get spicy.
Chris Hansen has slammed the new film Primetime in a new interview, where he was also asked about the To Catch a Predator sting operation in which an alleged child predator died by suicide.
Early reviews for Primetime have talked up the possibility of Robert Pattinson earning his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of controversial TV presenter Chris Hansen, who made a career out of confronting alleged paedophiles and exposing them on national TV.
The film is based on an Esquire story that covers the death of Bill Conradt, a former Texas local assistant district attorney who died by suicide when the police showed up at his door as part of a To Catch a Predator sting.
The story alleged that To Catch a Predator had influenced the police’s decision to confront him in his home after he stopped speaking to their decoy and refused to turn up to the sting house.
Hansen, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, has called the source material for the film a ‘hit piece’ and has come out firing on the producers of Primetime by calling it ‘an insult’ to the people who ‘work to protect children from predators’.
Chris Hansen has slammed the film Primetime, which is all about his career catching suspected child predators (Mike Pont/WireImage)
Hansen claimed he had ‘no regrets’ about sting that led to a death, but called it ‘unfortunate’
In the interview, where the presenter is bullish in his stance that producers of A24 should have contacted him for his guidance on the film, he is asked directly about the incident movie is based on where Conradt died by suicide.
He claimed that the production was ‘completely transparent about what happened’ from the moment it happened.
He continued: “It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences. You can draw your own conclusions as to why.”
Hansen pushed back on claims that him and his producers put pressure on police to go to his home to arrest him, claiming that they had gone to arrest him as they were concerned about the ‘destruction of evidence’.
Bill Conradt took his own life after he was exposed on the show (Esquire)
This has been his long-stated public line on this. However, Esquire’s reporting claims that he had said ‘if he won’t come to us, we’ll go to him’ and had influenced police.
When asked if he had any regrets about the sting operation he responded saying: “No. We continued to conduct investigations after that.”
Conradt’s sister Patricia sued NBC for $105 million in February 2008, almost 18 months on from his death, with NBC settling out of court for an undisclosed sum.
No liability or wrongdoing was established but a District Judge stated that a jury could find they had ‘crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement’ when allowing the claims to proceed.
Hansen refused to criticise Robert Pattinson, but was angry that he was not consulted about the film until it was already finished
He claims the A24 production did not contact him before filming or during production, and has reportedly yet to speak to Robert Pattinson.
Hansen was invited to a screening last month but refused to sign an NDA which he claimed required him to ‘sign away his rights’, but sources have said that this was simply a boiler plate agreement to avoid spoilers for an advanced screening.
The presenter was heavily critical of the production, but he was surprisingly positive about Pattinson, who is playing him in the film
Robert Pattinson stars in Primetime (A24)
“Robert Pattinson has said that he hopes the movie adds to my legacy, and I appreciate that,” he said. “But you still have something that is a complete work of fiction attached to a real name.
“Why would they not contact or consult me? Because they don’t care about the real story. And the irony is that the real story is pretty darn dramatic on its own.”
A24 have described the film as ‘based on real events’ but have not claimed the film is 100% true to real life events.
He added that he thought Pattinson is ‘a great actor and a nice guy, and he has been very gracious in his comments about me’, but added that he felt the actor was put in an awkward position to answer questions about why he never spoke to Hansen before portraying him.
LADbible group have contacted A24 and Esquire for comment.
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