Richard Jewell: Olivia Wilde Responds to Criticism of her Role

Olivia Wilde has tweeted her responses to criticism of the character she plays in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell, which opens Friday.

In the series of tweets, she admits that the journalist she plays, Kathy Scruggs, had a relationship with an FBI agent, but Wilde says she was not in control of the way the character was portrayed.

The film has been criticized for spreading the perception that the late reporter Scruggs exchanged sex for a tip about the suspect from an FBI agent investigating the 1996 Atlanta bombing. In the film, Scruggs pressures a federal agent (Jon Hamm) for information and, in the same conversation, suggests the two have sex. Hamm’s agent gives her a tip that security guard Richard Jewell a suspect in the bombing at the Summer Olympics, and it is implied that the pair sleep together directly after this exchange.