Nick Ut Sues Netflix Over Documentary Challenging His Iconic Napalm Girl Photo

Lawyers representing photojournalist Nick Ut filed a criminal defamation lawsuit in France against Netflix and the VII Foundation over claims made in "The Stringer" documentary. The lawsuit targets one of the most consequential attribution disputes in the history of photojournalism: who actually pressed the shutter on June 8, 1972, in the village of Trảng Bàng, Vietnam.

For more than 50 years, Vietnamese-born AP photographer Nick Ut was credited for taking the photo titled "The Terror of War," featuring 9-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc running naked from a napalm attack in 1972, a photo that landed him and the Associated Press a Pulitzer Prize. Released on Netflix on November 28, 2025, "The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo" follows Gary Knight of the VII Foundation as he investigates claims that Nick Ut did not take the famous photo and alleges it was actually taken by an unknown freelancer named Nguyen Nghe.

The widespread debate over the photograph's origin began in January 2025, when "The Stringer" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Bao Nguyen, it follows a two-year investigation by Gary Knight, a journalist and founder of the VII Foundation, which supports photojournalism. The film's central witness is Carl Robinson, a former AP photo editor, whom the Netflix film shows meeting Nguyen Thanh Nghe for the first time and offering him an apology: "I feel bad that we stole your name," Robinson told Nghe in the film. Robinson said he credited Ut at the direction of his supervisor, Horst Faas, who died in 2012. Ut declined to participate in the documentary.

In a statement, Ut's attorney James Hornstein said the Netflix documentary provides no new evidence: "no negative, no contact sheet, no print, no contemporaneous note, and no photographic archive" to dispute that Ut took the photo. The AP ran its own investigation and said it would continue to credit Ut for the photograph. "We left nothing uncovered that we're aware of and we've done it with a great deal of respect to everybody involved," said Derl McCrudden, an AP vice president who heads global news production. "It makes no difference to us if we changed the credit, but it has to be based on facts and evidence. And there is no definitive evidence proving that Nick Ut did not take this picture."

In the court filing, Gary Knight, CEO of the VII Foundation, is named as one of the defendants and so is Netflix France. They are accused of defaming Ut by asserting in the film that he is not the author of Napalm Girl and that he misrepresented his role in transporting Kim Phuc to medical care following the attack. Ut's lawyers argue in the filing that the film portrays him as a "shameless liar who, over the years, has skillfully cultivated a narrative that he knew to be false and a stolen attribution."

Lawyers for Ut asked Netflix last fall not to distribute the film, according to the lawsuit, which also said the accusations in it "go far beyond the acceptable scope of journalistic investigation" and suggest "fraudulent and disloyal behavior" by Ut.

He is seeking 100,000 euros, or about $116,000, in damages and 20,000 euros, or about $23,000, in legal costs. James Hornstein said in a statement that his client had brought the action "to defend his reputation, and not for financial gain," adding that Ut intended to donate any award for damages to charity. The suit was filed under France's Press Law of 1881, which governs public defamation. Ut said he felt it natural to seek justice in France because he is "surrounded by people who understand my work and my character." In the United States, a claimant has to prove that a false statement was made with "actual malice," meaning the bar is considered higher.

In May 2025, the World Press Photo Foundation's own investigation found that two other photojournalists "may have been better positioned to take the photograph than Nick Ut," and ultimately suspended his credit for the image. The photograph's credit in the foundation's online archives now reads "authorship disputed."

Ut's own statement was unequivocal: "Ever since the VII Foundation and Netflix released a film claiming that I didn't take the 'Napalm Girl' photograph, and that I have been lying about it for more than 50 years, it has caused great pain to me and my family. These accusations strike at the very core of who I am. My entire career has been built on telling the truth, often at great personal risk."

The film proved divisive within the photojournalist community; many sided with Ut, who was working for the Associated Press in 1972 when the photo was taken and continued working for the news agency for decades in the United States. Others believe the film's claims, which include a reconstruction of the event in Trang Bang that day. The question of who stood at that road in Trảng Bàng more than five decades ago will now be argued in a French court.