When the Rolling Stone article first went up, Alex -- a third year at University of Virginia -- said he started to read the piece not knowing he would be a central figure.
“It slowly dawned on me that this was, you know, the story Jackie, similar to the story Jackie had told me, in some ways,” he said.
Alex, who asked we only use his first name, realized he was in the article, identified as "Andy," a friend of Jackie's who met her after an alleged sexual assault at an UVa. fraternity house in 2012.
In the article, Jackie is portrayed as coming to three of her friends with obvious injuries. The friends discourage her from coming forward, out of fear it might damage their social standing.
“I don’t recall her being visibly injured,” he said. ”Maybe she did have some minor cuts and scrapes, I don’t know, but the bloodbath that was depicted crashing through a glass table, I don’t recall that.
He said the worst part of the article, was how it portrayed the friends response.
“The rape itself was absolutely terrible,” Alex said. “And the response was ‘the friend’s don’t care, the administration doesn't care, nobody cares,’ you know, and I think that depiction, that depiction is false.”
One of the other male friends mentioned in the article independently backed up Alex’s account.
Both men said Rolling Stone has never contacted them and they are cooperating with the Charlottesville police investigation into the events that night.
