'Napalm Girl' photographer Nick Ut responds to claim that he didn't take famous photo: 'a slap in the face'

Pulitzer Prize-winning lensman Nick Ut has spoken retired against claims that his celebrated 1972 photograph of a terrified kid moving from a napalm weaponry onslaught connected her colony during the Vietnam War was really taken by idiosyncratic else.

“I took the photograph of [Phan Thi] Kim Phuc,” Ut wrote successful a connection Wednesday posted to Facebook. “I took the different photos from that time that amusement her household and the devastation the warfare caused. No 1 other has the close to assertion that I did not instrumentality that circumstantial oregon immoderate different photograph attributed to maine due to the fact that I americium the creator of each the enactment I’ve done since time one.”

The origins of the photo, officially titled “The Terror of War” but much commonly known arsenic “Napalm Girl,” are questioned successful the documentary “The Stringer,” which premiered astatine the Sundance Film Festival successful January.

Directed by Bao Nguyen, the movie follows claims made by Carl Robinson — an AP photograph exertion successful Saigon erstwhile the representation was captured — that helium was instructed by Horst Faas, main of photograph operations successful Saigon, to incorrectly recognition the photograph to Ut. The filmmakers’ probe leads them to Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a operator for an NBC quality unit who besides was contiguous that time successful Trảng Bàng successful South Vietnam. Nghe claims successful the movie that helium really took the celebrated image, which landed astatine the AP arsenic a freelancer photo.

“More than 50 years later, I cannot recognize wherefore Mr. Carl Robinson, a chap worker of the AP successful Saigon astatine the time, would marque up a communicative and assertion I did not instrumentality that iconic photo,” Ut, who retired from the AP successful 2017, wrote successful his statement. “Why would Mr. Robinson not travel guardant successful the galore years earlier this? Mr. Robinson stood adjacent to maine and celebrated the Pulitzer Prize I won connected the time it was announced. Mr. Robinson has had ample clip to travel guardant earlier the cardinal witnesses and those helium is accusing of lying passe[d] away.”

Gary Knight, an enforcement shaper connected “The Stringer,” told The Times up of the premiere that their “story doesn’t hinge connected Carl.”

“We interviewed 55 people, 45 connected camera, and did the forensic research, which has been tested,” said Knight. “So we don’t trust connected Carl’s story. That was conscionable the opening of the journey.”

The AP conducted its ain probe into the origins of “The Terror of War” anterior to the film’s merchandise and concluded, “The AP has nary crushed to judge anyone different than Ut took the photo.”

In his societal media post, Ut said the AP’s strategy for matching movie negatives to photographers successful Saigon astatine the clip was “fail-proof” and besides credited Haas for helping to get the photograph published contempt “a batch of pushback.”

“This accusation by Mr. Robinson successful my sentiment is simply a slap successful the look of everyone who dedicated their full lives, careers to creating authentic, existent and existent images successful precise hard situations similar the Vietnam War,” said Ut.