via EEWMagzazine/Doris Timothy:
Actress Sherri Shepherd is starring in the upcoming biopic, Brian Banks, about a former football star of the same name, who was imprisoned due to a false claim of rape. The film hits theaters August 9, 2019.
The Emmy-Award winning former co-host of ABC’s “The View,” plays Banks’ mother, Leomia Meyers, whom Shepherd calls “humble, yet strongly courageous.”
Brian Banks, center, with his mother, Leomia Myers, and father, Jonathan Banks, outside court after his rape conviction was dismissed in Long Beach, Calif., in May 2012
“She never gave up on her son,” wrote the standup comic on social media, who jumped at the chance to play the dramatic role. “Every other week, Leomia drove 3.5 hours to see Brian when he was incarcerated. Brian Banks credits his mom with keeping him sane while he was falsely imprisoned.”
In 2002, at age 17, when the athlete was wrongfully convicted of rape, he was an All-American high school football player, destined to play in the NFL. But a high school acquaintance, Wanetta Gibson, lied and said Banks raped and kidnapped her following a consensual sexual encounter on the school campus. Although the accused maintained his innocence, his freedom was ultimately stripped away.
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Sherri Shepherd Plays ‘Courageous’ Mother Of Wrongfully Convicted Athlete, Brian Banks was originally published on praisecleveland.com
