Gary Dotson
This celebrity goo was created by Scott Hardie.
publication date: Friday, February 27, 2026 (part of February 2026)
category: 
Injustice
clue: Public sympathy for this wrongly convicted son of Chicago didn't cause Nissan to discontinue the Datsun brand when they did, but it couldn't have helped.
explanation: Dotson was convicted of rape in 1979, but gained immense public sympathy after the accuser recanted in 1985, leading to several years of widely-covered legal proceedings that eventually ended with his conviction being vacated in 1989. Coincidentally, Nissan discontinued the Datsun brand in 1986 after several years of internal preparations. more…
intended difficulty: medium
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, Samir Mehta, and Richard Slominsky
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