Barbara Walters’ sit-down with filmmaker Peter Rodger, father of Isla Vista gunman, to air Friday
- Share via
Barbara Walters’ much-talked-about sit-down with filmmaker Peter Rodger, the father of the Isla Vista gunman Elliot Rodger, will air Friday during a special edition of “20/20.”
News of the sit-down, which serves as Rodger’s first interview since the deadly massacre, broke this month. Rodger, who served as the second-unit director for “The Hunger Games,” met with Walters on Sunday, a spokesperson for ABC News confirmed to The Times.
------------
FOR THE RECORD
An earlier version of this post misspelled Elliot Rodger’s first name as Elliott.
------------
The interview will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT Friday, as first reported by Buzzfeed.
In the wake of the mass-murder rampage at the college town of Isla Vista, in which six UC Santa Barbara students were killed — in addition to 22-year-old Elliot Rodger — last month, the filmmaker has kept a low profile. He and Elliot’s mother released a statement soon after news broke describing the pain their son caused as “hell on earth.”
ABC News said that Rodger sought out Walters to administer his first interview. The request pulled Walters out of retirement. The veteran newswoman had bid adieu to ABC News and “The View” on May 16 — making herself available for special projects, this being one of them.
The telecast bookends a revelatory month for Rodger, who met with Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher Michael-Martinez was one of the six students killed.
------------
FOR THE RECORD
A shareline on an earlier version of this post said …
------------
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
