Oscar-Worthy Performance? Pistorius Denies Taking Acting Lessons For Murder Trial
April 22 2014, Published 11:09 a.m. ET
Oscar Pistorius’ camp on Tuesday denied that the paralympian had taken acting lessons in preparation for his murder trial in which the Olympian has displayed many shades of his emotional pallet, weeping, sobbing and even vomiting while hearing the details of his shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius family media manager Anneliese Burgess said any accusations the athlete took aging lessons are “totally devoid of any truth," and strenuously denied that her “client has undergone any 'acting lessons' or any form of emotional coaching."
The initial assertion, made by South African journalist Jani Allan citing “extremely reliable sources … on very good authority” said that the 27-year-old “is being coached on his court performance by a close actor friend, who is also famous in South Africa."
Burgess, in response to Allan’s claims, said that the idea of the athlete acting in the trial “makes a mockery of the enormous human tragedy involving the Steenkamp family and our client and his family.”
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Burgess said that “Allen has never met Oscar Pistorius, and any knowledge she professes to have of our client can only be described as fictitious.”
As we previously reported, the runner’s murder trial is in the first week of a two-week hiatus after prosecutors requested the move with the defense’s consent. The unexpected length of the proceedings have caused scheduling conflicts for a member of the prosecution team involved in another murder trial.
Pistorius returns to South Africa's Pretoria court May 5.