‘Richard Jewell': AJC Continues its Mission to Deceive and Distract From Its Own Unethical Behavior

As Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” continues to be embattled by controversies regarding its depiction of the FBI and media, screenwriter Billy Ray decided to fight back against Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Kevin Riley, who has criticized the movie for “suggesting” that reporter Kathy Scruggs traded sex for news tips while reporting on the investigation into the 1996 Atlanta bombing.

Riley is threatening to launch a defamation lawsuit against the WB and Eastwood, but Ray says it’s all just part of a “distraction campaign” to divert attention from the paper’s relentless and disgusting smearing of Jewell, a security guard who was treated as a prime suspect in the Atlanta bombing case — despite Jewell being innocent and, not just that, actually finding the bomb and heroically evacuating the Olympic village.

“This movie is about a hero whose life was completely destroyed by myths created by the FBI and the media, specifically the AJC,” Ray told Deadline. “The AJC hung Richard Jewell, in public. They editorialized wildly and printed assumptions as facts. They compared him to noted mass murderer Wayne Williams. And this was after he had saved hundreds of lives.

“Now a movie comes along 23 years later, a perfect chance for the AJC to atone for what they did to Richard and to admit to their misdeeds. And what do they decide to do? They launch a distraction campaign. They deflect and distort. They focus solely on one single minute in a movie that’s 129 minutes long, opting to challenge one assertion in the movie rather than accepting their own role in destroying the life of a good man. The movie isn’t about Kathy Scruggs; it’s about the heroism and hounding of Richard Jewell, and what rushed reporting can do to an innocent man. And by the way, I will stand by every word and assertion in the script.”

Meantime, Olivia Wilde, who plays Scruggs in the film, published a Twitter thread Thursday saying her character was not involved in a sexual quid pro quo, but rather was in a preexisting romantic relationship with the FBI agent — which is what I had gathered as well watching the film, but the AJC’s motto these days seems to DECEIVE AND DISTRACT. Don’t pay attention to their continuous smears of the movie, they are in panic mode.

I cannot speak for the creative decisions made by the filmmakers, as I did not have a say in how the film was ultimately crafted, but it’s important to me that I share my personal take on the matter.

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) December 12, 2019