Clinton Eastwood has always been an anomaly &#8212; a conservative in Hollywood.
And the &#8220;Dirty Harry&#8221; actor, a former mayor of Carmel-By-The-Sea, Ca., has always been active in politics &#8212; even now at 89 years old. On Friday, he weighed in on the 2020 presidential race, picking a candidate you might not have expected.
&#8220;The best thing we could do is just get Mike Bloomberg in there,&#8221; Eastwood told the <a href="http://apkmetro.com/a-hollywood-legend-talks-politics/">Wall Street Journal.</a>
The actor, who now describes himself as a libertarian who has &#8220;respect for other people’s ideas and is willing to learn constantly,&#8221; said President Donald Trump has done &#8220;certain things&#8221; that he supported. But he said he does not appreciate the &#8220;ornery&#8221; state of current politics and would like the president to act &#8220;in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names.&#8221;
&#8220;I would personally like for him to not bring himself to that level,&#8221; Eastwood said.
Eastwood set the political world on fire in 2012 when he gave his famous &#8220;empty-chair&#8221; speech at the Republican National Convention. In the speech, Eastwood, then backing GOP candidate Mitt Romney, conducted a mock interview with the chair, representing President Barack Obama.
&#8220;What do you want me to tell Romney?&#8221; Eastwood asked the empty chair. &#8220;I can&#8217;t tell him to do that to himself &#8230; you&#8217;re getting as bad as [former vice president Joe] Biden &#8230; of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it &#8230;&#8221;
Eastwood later asked, &#8220;Mr, President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them? I mean, what do you say to people?&#8221;
No answer from the empty chair.
Eastwood concluded his speech saying: &#8220;When somebody doesn&#8217;t do the job, you gotta let &#8217;em go,&#8221; as he drew a finger across his throat.
Before the 2016 election, Eastwood told Esquire magazine he was supporting Trump over Hillary Clinton, adding that his anti-Obama views influenced his decision.
&#8220;I&#8217;d have to go for Trump &#8230; you know, &#8217;cause she&#8217;s declared that she&#8217;s gonna follow in Obama&#8217;s footsteps. There&#8217;s been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She&#8217;s made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I&#8217;m sure that Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician.&#8221;
But Eastwood has also praised Trump&#8217;s more macho way. In 2017, during a conversation moderated by Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, Eastwood mocked the politically correct world of today.
“[Trump’s] onto something, because secretly, everybody’s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up,” he said.”We’re really in a pussy generation. Everybody’s walking on eggshells,” he said. “We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist.”
And he said he probably couldn&#8217;t make &#8220;Dirty Harry&#8221; today.
“A lot of people thought it was politically incorrect,” Eastwood said. “That was at the beginning of the era that we’re in now, where everybody thinks everyone’s politically correct. We’re killing ourselves by doing that. We’ve lost our sense of humor.”

CinemaCon 2015 &#8211; CinemaCon And Warner Bros. Pictures Present &#8220;The Legend Of Cinema Luncheon: A Salute To Clint Eastwood&#8221;

Clint Eastwood Offers Surprising Support For This 2020 Candidate

2020 Election

Clint Eastwood

Donald Trump

Michael Bloomberg

How can you properly vindicate and honor a man who risked his life to save others, only to be utterly destroyed by the powerful forces of the FBI and the media for doing so?
I&#8217;m not sure you ever really can, especially 20 years after the fact. But Clint Eastwood&#8217;s latest masterpiece, &#8220;Richard Jewell,&#8221; comes as close as one can get.
Richard Jewell was working security at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when he spotted a suspicious package. Jewell&#8217;s vigilance and dedication to his job allowed him and others to evacuate the area, potentially saving an estimated 100 lives.
Jewell was hero.
Or at least he should have been.
The Eastwood-directed film dissects the smearing of Jewell, which started just three days after the 33-year-old helped to minimize the impact of the attack.
From the deceptive and, frankly, unbelievable actions by the FBI — an agency Jewell revered — to the reputation-destroying mistakes printed and echoed by an overzealous media unaware of their own biases, &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; gives the audience an  emotionally taxing peek inside the lives of such victims.
&#8220;I, Tonya&#8221; actor Paul Walter Hauser is stunning as Jewell; or, simply, he is Jewell. While the content of the film is serious, &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; is so heavy and challenging for the viewer largely due to Hauser&#8217;s performance. Understanding Jewell as an imperfect hero, Hauser makes you feel every ounce of injustice, every infliction of pain against the earnest, goodhearted soul that was Jewell. You want to reach through the screen and comfort the character; it&#8217;s almost agonizing.
And it&#8217;s not just Hauser with the impeccable acting. Every character is perfectly cast. Sam Rockwell as Jewell-friend and lawyer Watson Bryant couldn&#8217;t be a more charismatic bulldog. Kathy Bates nearly steals the film with her heartbreaking portrayal of Jewell&#8217;s mother Bobi during the now-famous press conference defending her baby boy. Jon Hamm, as an aggressive FBI agent, will make you loathe him. Olivia Wilde brings the right amount of complexity in her portrayal as reporter Kathy Scruggs.
Of course, the parallels to today&#8217;s political climate are unavoidable (see: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Covington Catholic high schoolers, President Donald Trump), and likely the real reason folks in the media have delivered an all-out assault on the film. However, their obvious deflection doesn&#8217;t detract from the message of &#8220;Richard Jewell.&#8221;
&#8220;Hollywood takes artistic liberties,&#8221; Hauser responded to the controversy during a Friday interview with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/telling-richard-jewell-story-hero-turned-suspects-88-67703614">ABC News</a>. &#8220;While I appreciate their opinions, if they think it&#8217;s going to extinguish what we&#8217;re trying to do with the Jewell family, they would be incorrect.&#8221;
Perhaps the greatest endorsement of the film is the reaction from Bobi Jewell, who told ABC she believed her only son was &#8220;killed&#8221; by the FBI and media maligning him. &#8220;He was worn, torn, and tattered,&#8221; the hero&#8217;s mother said, adding that her boy &#8220;died of a broken heart.&#8221; (Jewell died at the young age of 44.)
However, though painful, the film has offered her boy vindication, Bobi Jewell said, noting that it was 20 years too late.
&#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; is a must-see, compelling inside look at the victims created by authorities abusing their power and neglecting their responsibilities. Come for the acting, stay for the timely message.

A Devastating Look At Victims Of ‘Fake News,’ ‘Richard Jewell’ Is The Must-See Film Of The Year

Hollywood

Media Bias

I’ve always considered journalism to be a noble profession. A career spent digging through false leads and trivia in order to get to the truth of a story must be pretty harrowing at times. In some countries, this actually puts journalists in mortal danger. But, in the end, it’s worth it, because they’re helping to get the word out about important stories. Indeed, it is a noble and vital profession.
This is not to suggest, however, that those who would go into this profession are inherently noble. Like anybody else, journalists often fall prey to the temptations of laziness, bias, and sometimes outright lies. These particular journalists are the reason that the mainstream media has become less and less trustworthy through the decades, as old-fashioned reporting has taken a backseat to political activism and narrative-pushing in the guise of journalistic respectability.
With Clint Eastwood’s new film Richard Jewell, the iconic director dramatizes an historical instance in which the media — for reasons of convenience and sensationalism — got the story horrendously wrong. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a security guard named Richard Jewell found a bomb planted at Centennial Park and quickly alerted the authorities and helped save hundreds of lives. He was hailed as a hero, but was quickly targeted — first by the FBI and subsequently by the media itself — as the prime suspect. The single, overweight Jewell lived with his mother and was quickly labeled a loser; a wannabe cop who was looking for an opportunity to be a hero. Jewell fit a specific type, and the media ran with the story. The problem, of course, was that the story wasn’t true, and Jewell actually was the hero he was initially made out to be.
Eastwood’s decision to put out a movie about this egregious example of an overeager media has been met with resistance from people who see the film as a piece of propaganda for the Trump administration, which regularly calls out the media as “fake news.” And while the timing of the release may well be politically motivated (what movie isn’t these days?), the film is simply the latest in a long line of movies that are willing to grapple with the potential dishonesty and sensationalism of the media.
For those who might be ideologically sympathetic to Eastwood’s goals with the film, here is a list of previously released films that took the press to task.
Shattered Glass (2003) — Written and directed by Billy Ray, the screenwriter of Richard Jewell, this film tells the story of Stephen Glass, the entertaining wunderkind of The New Republic whose popular human interest stories were soon revealed to be completely fabricated. As the newly minted editor at The New Republic conducts an internal investigation, the film explores not only why Glass would so brazenly lie to his bosses, co-workers, and the public at large, but also the environment in which he could get away with it for so long. Featuring solid performances from Hayden Christiansen and Peter Sarsgard, this film tells another true story of media sensationalism winning out over journalistic integrity.
Network (1976) — Conceived by the endearingly acidic Paddy Chayefsky, this over-the-top satire tells the story of an anchorman slowly losing his mind and the executives and producers who see ratings potential in his meltdown. As the executives justify their actions by claiming to be “tapping into the popular rage” of a post-Watergate culture, Network predicted much of the modern hysteria that we find whenever we turn on the news, from the cynical executives to the self-righteous talent to the viewers that allow themselves to be so thoroughly manipulated. A cautionary tale that proved to be unnervingly prescient.
Absence of Malice (1981) — Directed with the straightforward tone that would become his hallmark, Sydney Pollack tells the story of a legitimate businessman whose life is put through the ringer when an overeager Miami reporter writes a story implicating the businessman in the murder of a union official. The investigation that follows is a labyrinthine exercise in corruption, extortion, and politics, all couched in a surprisingly poignant debate about the First Amendment. The film suggests that the media — sometimes knowing, sometimes not — can be used as an effective weapon by those in power, requiring caution by those journalists and editors whose pursuit of a good story can blind them to their own exploitation.
Ace in the Hole (1951) — Having made one of the quintessential Hollywood takedowns the year before, director Billy Wilder decided to turn his sights on the world of journalism, represented here by a smug, smirking Kirk Douglas. A down-on-his-luck reporter sees the opportunity to get back on top when a small town resident is trapped in a nearby cave. The reporter manipulates the local authorities into drawing out the rescue operation while simultaneously getting close to the trapped man, effectively giving himself exclusive access to the unfolding story. Like Network, Ace in the Hole foretold later developments in the media, whose 24-hour news cycle operates best when propped up by an ongoing story, and suggested that some journalists are more comfortable making the news than simply reporting it.
Inherit the Wind (1960) — It may seem counterintuitive — especially to more religious readers — to recommend Stanley Kramer’s fictionalized retelling of the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, but it is a well-written, brilliantly acted film, starring Spencer Tracy and the always-reliable Fredric March. Despite those heavy-hitters, it is the Gene Kelly role of haughty reporter E.K. Hornbeck that really stands out to me. While the film is none too kind to the creationism-supporting Matthew Harrison Brady (March), its real scorn is reserved for Hornbeck, who demonstrates a flagrant bias in reporting the story. The readiness with which Hornbeck editorializes and shows real contempt for more traditional-minded Americans slowly alienates everybody in the film, including those that would seemingly be on his side. The image of “journalist as self-important, narcissistic, would-be kingmaker” is one of the more damning portraits of the media in film.
Of course, there are plenty of examples of films that would seek to canonize journalists — rightly in films like All the President’s Men and wrongly in the Dan Rather apologia Truth — but there is something extremely satisfying about a movie that is willing to take a hard look at the potential pitfalls of journalism. And in the current climate — with a media that is so averse to introspection — it can also be pretty refreshing.
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Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Under Fire For Calling Out The Press; Here Are Some Other Films That Did The Same

On Monday, President Donald Trump shared a poignant clip of maligned hero Richard Jewell testifying before Congress in 1997 and demanding the FBI issue him a formal apology for falsely fingering him as a suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games bombing.
The president approvingly quote-tweeted a post from the Twitter user &#8220;Steph,&#8221; who argued that Richard Jewell&#8217;s treatment at the hands of the FBI and the fake news media parallels President Trump&#8217;s own treatment. Steph denounced both organizations as &#8220;tyrants&#8221; and &#8220;criminal organizations.&#8221;
&#8220;This is Richard Jewell. Listen to him. President Trump could read the same statement,&#8221; said Steph. &#8220;The FBI &amp; their media partners are criminal organizations under the guise of &#8216;keeping us safe&#8217; They are tyrants and it isn’t new.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Wow! <a href="https://t.co/gYGUEKpGac">https://t.co/gYGUEKpGac</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206590608586027013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the two-minute clip, a noticeably shaken and timid Richard Jewell denounces his treatment at the hands of both the media and the FBI, taking specific aim at the government institution for actively seeking to ruin his life in spite of the truth. Here&#8217;s the full transcript:
<blockquote> I come before you today, not as a Republican or a Democrat. I have no political agenda. I come before you simply as an American citizen with rights just like everybody else. One year ago today, the FBI and the media joined together to launch an attack on me of unparalleled proportions in the history of this nation. An attack calculated to portray me to the world as some kind of abnormal person, with a bizarre employment history who was guilty of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. It was all a lie.
Two days ago, the Justice Department issued a written report about its investigation into a few of the unlawful acts committed by the FBI in its investigation of me. While I have not had an opportunity to study the report in detail,  I did read a redacted summary yesterday. I submit to you that the Justice Department cannot be trusted to investigate itself because that report is also a lie. It is filled with false statements, half-truths, and gross distortions of the truth. Reading it reminded me of reading the FBI search warrant affidavit against me. Apparently, truth for the Justice Department is simply whatever the Justice Department wants the truth to me. Within a few days, after my name was leaked to the media, the FBI knew it had a public relations disaster on its hands. The organization that prided itself on being the best investigative agency in the world had quickly, and with the word watching, pointed the federal government&#8217;s finger of guilt at the wrong man and they knew it within days. Not only did the FBI accuse the wrong man — its agents in Atlanta, and officials in Washington, actively participated in publicly humiliating me.</blockquote>
Richard Jewell became a national hero during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when he discovered a bomb planted in Centennial Park. Risking his own life, Jewell successfully helped to evacuate the area, saving countless lives before the bomb detonated. As a result of his heroic feats, only one person died in the blast (a second person later died of a heart attack) while 111 people were injured.
Though first hailed for his triumphant efforts, things quickly turned sour for Jewell the moment the media learned that the FBI was investigating him as a potential suspect, believing he may have planted the bomb himself in order to gain notoriety.
Director Clint Eastwood&#8217;s movie chronicling Richard Jewell&#8217;s harrowing fight went nationwide last Friday.

Richard Jewell (C) his mother Barbara (L) and att

WATCH: Trump Shares Richard Jewell Testimony Denouncing FBI, Fake News Media: ‘Criminal Organizations,’ ‘Tyrants’

Olympics

Richard Jewell

Twitter

The &#8220;get woke, go broke&#8221; axiom may yet to be disproven, but that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean movies with inarguable conservative leanings (not to mention a conservative director) will automatically score a winning goal. Witness exhibit A: Clint Eastwood&#8217;s &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; performed disastrously this weekend despite reliably positive mainstream reviews and some heavy championing in conservative media circles.
According to <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/box-office/box-office-clint-eastwood-suffers-worst-opening-in-four-decades-with-richard-jewell-1203438272/">Variety</a>, &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; marked the worst opening for a Clint Eastwood movie in four decades, pulling in a dismal $5 million from 2,502 theaters.
&#8220;It’s a disappointing result for Eastwood, marking one of the worst nationwide openings of the 89-year-old’s directorial career,&#8221; the <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/box-office/box-office-clint-eastwood-suffers-worst-opening-in-four-decades-with-richard-jewell-1203438272/">outlet reported</a>. &#8220;His only movie to endure a worse fate was 1980’s &#8216;Billy Bronco&#8217; with $3.7 million. Should &#8216;<a id="related_article_link_richard-jewell" href="https://variety.com/2019/film/box-office/box-office-jumanji-opening-weekend-richard-jewell-flops-1203438161/" data-tag="richard-jewell">Richard Jewell&#8217;</a> come in ahead of expectations by even $200,000, that would propel it just barely above 1997’s &#8216;Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil&#8217; ($5.2 million) and 1999’s &#8216;True Crime&#8217; ($5.2 million) in terms of Eastwood’s inaugural outings.&#8221;
Worse still, the movie is expected to lose tens of millions of dollars in North America due to its $45 million production budget. Predictions cap the film&#8217;s box office earnings somewhere in the $25 &#8211; $45 million range.
Richard Jewell became a national hero during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when he discovered a bomb planted in Centennial Park. Risking his own life, Jewell successfully helped to evacuate the area, saving countless lives before the bomb detonated. As a result of his heroic feats, only one person died in the blast (a second person later died of a heart attack) while 111 people were injured.
Though first hailed for his triumphant efforts, things quickly turned sour for Jewell the moment the media learned that the FBI was investigating him as a potential suspect, believing he may have planted the bomb himself in order to gain notoriety. Leading up to its release, the film faced heavy scrutiny for portraying journalist Kathy Scruggs of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a salacious reporter willing to trade sex for news stories. Neither Warner Bros. nor Eastwood nor screenwriter Billy Ray presented evidence to support that portrayal.
Writing at <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/12/14/friday-box-office-richard-jewell-clint-eastwood-black-christmas-adam-sandler-charlize-theron-margot-robbie-bombshell-uncut-gems/#69394a478907">Forbes</a>, Scott Mendelson argued that the controversy over Scruggs (who died in 2001 and could not publicly defend herself) may not have exactly hampered the film&#8217;s box office chances.
&#8220;It has damaged the otherwise pretty good movie’s standing in terms of how it’s discussed in the media. Granted, it probably didn’t impact the box office, and its biggest shot at Oscar glory remains a Best Actor nod for Hauser,&#8221; wrote Mendelson.
Screenwriter Billy Ray has since accused the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) of capitalizing off the one moment in which Scruggs flirts with an FBI agent in order stifle the conversation.
&#8220;This movie is about a hero whose life was completely destroyed by myths created by the FBI and the media, specifically the AJC,” Ray <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/12/richard-jewell-movie-controversy-reporter-kathy-scruggs-clint-eastwood-billy-ray-atlanta-journal-constitution-1202806453/?fbclid=IwAR1F3qnC58WALs1L-GVJZqTYq91HEk6l0EVPkEOEhwsxugqfJAScx6ZfZGw">told Deadline</a>. “The AJC hung Richard Jewell, in public.”
&#8220;They editorialized wildly and printed assumptions as facts,” Ray said. “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.&#8221;

&#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; Atlanta Screening

Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Flops Amid Controversy

Box Office

Clint Eastwood’s new movie “Richard Jewell” tells the true story of a heroic security guard wrongly accused of a 1996 bombing by the FBI and wrongly convicted by an out-of-control news media.
When left-wing critics previewed the movie, they were appalled.
“‘Richard Jewell’ is the Movie America Doesn’t Need Right Now,” was the headline on the review by Will Bunch in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bunch wrote: “At some point during those two hours in the dark – maybe the attack on the FBI as a rogue outfit using trickery to frame innocent people, or the depiction of journalists as amoral enemies of the people, or the swelling agitprop of applause lines about common folks under attack ‘from our two most powerful forces – the United States government and the media’ – that I’d began to wonder if I’d made a wrong turn. Was I really in a Philadelphia multiplex, or had I wound up at President Trump’s lie-larded Hershey rally taking place at exactly the same time?”
Likewise, left-wing outlet The Daily Beast said Eastwood’s movie “channels Trump talking points.” 

But here’s my question. Since Trump is never mentioned in the movie, and since the movie only dramatizes a completely true story, what made these critics think of Donald Trump when they saw a man being unfairly abused by the FBI and the press? What on earth, pray tell, brought President the Donald into their squeaky clean minds?
Of course, we know the answer. As much as they deny it, distort it, and lie about it, the Department of Justice Inspector General report on the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s non-existent collusion with Russia absolutely destroys the work and credibility of Obama’s FBI leadership and the news media that reported on it. It’s the “Richard Jewell” story on steroids, and if the press didn’t know it, they wouldn’t protest so much.
Despite what virtually every left-wing commentator has said, the IG report is not a “Rorschach Test” that can be read two ways. It crucifies James Comey’s FBI – and not like Jesus was crucified, but like the thieves beside him who were “condemned justly.” The feds lied. They cheated. They wrongly spied on Americans. They wrongly spied on an opposition presidential campaign. And while IG Michael Horowitz makes plain it wasn’t his job to question their motives in doing so – and while he allows they had the “quantum” of justification required to open the investigation – he specifically comments on the low standards of that requirement, and then goes on to outline behavior so bad, he himself won’t try to explain the reasons behind it.
And in showing the FBI misused its mighty power, the report also underscores the dreadful, immoral, and dishonest behavior of the news media. The two and a half years of breathless Russia collusion reporting based on anonymous leaks from spies trying to cover their butts was, like the reporting on Richard Jewell, an unforgiveable disservice to the American people. No wonder “journalists” don’t want to see Eastwood’s movie. They are so steeped in ideological corruption, they can’t stand the sight of themselves.
Put Donald Trump aside for a moment, if that’s possible. Consider only this. George Stephanopoulos worked for Bill Clinton during the 1992 election. Part of his job was silencing and discrediting women who accused Clinton of rape and sexual abuse. You can see him in action in the documentary “War Room.” Stephanopoulos is now the chief newsman at ABC News. A whistleblower recently released video showing that ABC News spiked the story about Clinton friend and child rapist Jeffrey Epstein during Hillary Clinton’s campaign. When the video went public through Project Veritas, ABC started a hunt – not for the evildoer who spiked the story – but for the whistleblower! CBS helped ABC by firing a woman they wrongly thought guilty. And, of course, over at NBC, they did everything they could to kill the investigation into Clinton supporter and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein.
Our journalists cover up for probable rapists in order to protect powerful Democrats. Let me repeat that: our mainstream journalists cover up for probable rapists in order to protect powerful Democrats – and then they cover up the cover up.
That’s who they are. That’s what they do.
If I were they, I couldn’t look in the mirror either.

Trump with press.

Our Journalists Are Not As Bad As In ‘Richard Jewell’ – They’re Much Worse

Journalism

Media

Fox News host Jesse Watters of &#8220;The Five&#8221; has come under fire from feminists after he suggested that some women journalists will trade sex for news stories in response to the backlash against Clint Eastwood&#8217;s &#8220;Richard Jewell.&#8221;
According to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-news-jesse-watters-criticized-richard-jewell-remarks-1262241">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (THR), the controversy erupted on Wednesday when Watters said that women journalists sleep with sources &#8220;all the time.&#8221; His comments were in reference to the outrage directed at &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; for portraying Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reporter Kathy Scruggs as a callous schemer trading sex with an FBI agent for a scoop, which AJC has condemned as &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/clint-eastwood-breaks-silence-on-richard-jewell-accusations">false and malicious</a>.&#8221; Both Warner Bros. and Clint Eastwood have stood by the film&#8217;s artistic license.
&#8220;It happens, a lot. Ali Watkins was a reporter for many, many years, at many distinguished publications,&#8221; said Watters. &#8220;She slept with one of her sources, allegedly, for four years and broke a lot of scoops, according to this Politico report here. So, it happens a lot, and it happens a lot in movies and TV shows.&#8221;
When co-host Juan Williams challenged that assertion, Watters quickly added that he did not mean &#8220;most women reporters.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t say most women reporters,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Male reporters could do it, too. I&#8217;m just saying it happens. I&#8217;m saying it&#8217;s happened many times in the past.&#8221;
In response to Watters&#8217; comments, groups representing female journalists have been denouncing his statements as sexist. Elisa Lees Munoz, executive director of the International Women&#8217;s Media Foundation, told THR that his comments were &#8220;totally beyond the pale.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s such a trope, it&#8217;s so tired, and why is it coming out now?&#8221; said Munoz. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s any different than any other way that professional women are maligned in any profession, which is that a women can&#8217;t possibly do her job well if she&#8217;s not also using her body to get ahead.&#8221;
&#8220;I think it has to do with being fed up with journalists being portrayed as anything other than as professional and it has to do with the #MeToo movement and female journalists pushing back on these portrayals,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;In general, there&#8217;s much more awareness of how detrimental these kind of comments are and really an attempt to educate individuals.&#8221;
Carolyn McGourty Supple, co-founder of Press Forward, said that Watters promoted a harmful stereotype. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s an incredibly harmful stereotype and it was irresponsible to say on air,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It sounded anecdotal and not based in reality. Saying stuff like that has very harmful effects. In reality, women journalists are more likely to be sexually harassed by their sources and face verbal abuse and threats online. This is what drives female journalists around the world to leave the field when they are already underrepresented in the press.&#8221;
Tema L. Staig, executive director of the group Women in Media, called Watters a &#8220;gaslighting gasbag&#8221; while Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist who sued Fox News for  sexual harassment in 2017 after serving as a contributor, denounced the comments as being &#8220;absolutely disgraceful.&#8221;
&#8220;This statement is absolutely disgraceful,&#8221; said Roginsky. &#8220;Of course, in his mind, female journalists must resort to feminine wiles to get the scoop, because it can&#8217;t be possible that women can actually break stories because of their tenacity and brain power. There is a profound cultural shift that is happening in the United States today, where women won&#8217;t stand for that kind of rhetoric any longer. I&#8217;m only sorry that this movement seems to have escaped the notice of some people at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newspaper-demands-eastwoods-richard-jewell-issue-a-disclaimer">Newspaper Demands Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Issue A Disclaimer</a>

Jenna Bush Hager And Barbara Bush Visit &#8220;The Five&#8221;

Female Groups Blast Jesse Watters For Saying Some Women Journalists Sleep With Sources In Response To ‘Richard Jewell’ Controversy

Jesse Watters

Sexism

In a letter sent Monday by a high-powered law firm to Warner Bros. and Clint Eastwood, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution accused the studio and filmmakers behind the iconic director&#8217;s historically based film &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; of &#8220;false and malicious&#8221; portrayals of the paper and its reporters, particularly a female journalist whose reporting helped turn a real-life hero into a public villain. In an interview with The Associated Press, Eastwood was asked to address the controversy and responded by pointing to the paper&#8217;s apparent motivation for launching the attack on him and the studio.
&#8220;Richard Jewell,&#8221; which is generating Oscars buzz, tells the historically based story of a security guard who discovered a pipe bomb in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics and worked to get others clear of the area. Though his heroic actions saved lives, he went from hero to villain after the media, including AJC&#8217;s late-Kathy Scruggs, reported that he had become the FBI’s top suspect.
The film&#8217;s portrayal of Scruggs (played by Olivia Wilde) and the paper in general, AJC alleges, amounts to defamation. The paper points to one scene as particularly egregious: the suggestion that Scruggs offers sex to an FBI agent for information on Jewell. &#8220;The AJC’s reporter is reduced to a sex-trading object in the film,&#8221; reads the letter, sent by Martin Singer’s LA-based law firm Lavely &amp; Singer. &#8220;Such a portrayal makes it appear that the AJC sexually exploited its staff and/or that it facilitated or condoned offering sexual gratification to sources in exchange for stories.&#8221;
&#8220;We hereby demand that you immediately issue a statement publicly acknowledging that some events were imagined for dramatic purposes and artistic license and dramatization were used in the film’s portrayal of events and characters,” the paper insists. &#8220;We further demand that you add a prominent disclaimer to the film to that effect.&#8221;
Warner Bros. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/warner-bros-backs-eastwood-film-unloads-on-newspaper-threatening-lawsuit">responded</a> Monday by vowing to &#8220;vigorously defend&#8221; against the paper&#8217;s &#8220;baseless&#8221; claims and pointing out the &#8220;ultimate irony that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast.&#8221;
In an interview along with the film&#8217;s star, Paul Walter Hauser, published Thursday, <a href="https://apnews.com/77602dfd372fbf516293715aa2ffb9b6">The Associated Press</a> asked Eastwood for comments on the paper&#8217;s accusations, and the director offered a classically Eastwood nonchalant response.
&#8220;The editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has criticized the film,&#8221; AP said in a question directed to Eastwood. &#8220;He’s questioning the accuracy, saying it’s not true that Kathy Scruggs traded sex with an ex-FBI agent in exchange for a tip. And they’re also challenging the notion that the paper ran a story with questionable sourcing. Do you have a response to the criticism?&#8221;
&#8220;I think the Atlanta Journal probably would be the one group that would be sort of complexed about that whole situation because they are the ones who printed the first thing of there being a crime caused by Richard Jewell,&#8221; said Eastwood. &#8220;And so they’re probably looking for ways to rationalize their activity. I don’t know for sure. I haven’t — never discussed it with anyone from there &#8230;&#8221;
Hauser also responded in defense of the film. &#8220;But also the biopics — Hollywood biopics are historically under scrutiny, whether it’s the Dupont family in &#8216;Foxcatcher,&#8217; whether it’s the Catholic Church in &#8216;Spotlight,'&#8221; said the actor. &#8220;This is a very obvious thing that’s happening with the AJC and we understand their plight. But we’re telling our story. And I think we did a really good job.&#8221;
&#8220;The film is based on a wide range of highly credible source material,” Warner Bros. said in the statement reported by <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/12/clint-eastwood-lawsuit-richard-jewell-movie-warner-bros-atlanta-journal-constitution-1202805069/">Deadline</a> Monday. &#8220;There is no disputing that Richard Jewell was an innocent man whose reputation and life were shredded by a miscarriage of justice. It is unfortunate and the ultimate irony that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast. Richard Jewell focuses on the real victim, seeks to tell his story, confirm his innocence and restore his name.&#8221;
&#8220;The AJC’s claims are baseless, and we will vigorously defend against them,&#8221; the studio asserted.

Clint Eastwood Breaks Silence On ‘Richard Jewell’ Accusations

Warner Bros. isn&#8217;t taking the Atlanta Journal-Constitution&#8217;s threat of a defamation lawsuit lying down.
Clint Eastwood&#8217;s newest film, &#8220;Richard Jewell,&#8221; tells the historically based story of a security guard who saved people&#8217;s lives upon discovering a pipe bomb in Atlanta&#8217;s Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics but went from hero to public villain after a reckless media reported that he had become the FBI&#8217;s top suspect. One of the media outlets which helped spread the false claim that Jewell was responsible for the bombing was The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The paper is now threatening to sue Warner Bros. and the filmmakers for what it claims is a &#8220;false and malicious&#8221; depiction of since-deceased journalist Kathy Scruggs (played by Olivia Wilde), who was first to report that Jewell was the primary suspect. The inclusion of a scene suggesting that Scruggs offers sex to an FBI agent for information, says AJC and its high-powered Hollywood attorney Martin Singer, is defamatory.
In a letter sent Monday to Warner Bros., Eastwood, screenwriter Billy Ray, and reporter Marie Brenner, who wrote a story for <a href="https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/1fd2d7ae-10d8-474b-9bf1-d1558af697be">Vanity Fair</a> on which the film is partly based, AJC demands that the studio issue a public statement and a &#8220;prominent disclaimer&#8221; before the film acknowledging it took creative license in its depictions of the historically based events.
&#8220;We hereby demand that you immediately issue a statement publicly acknowledging that some events were imagined for dramatic purposes and artistic license and dramatization were used in the film’s portrayal of events and characters,&#8221; reads the letter, sent by Singer&#8217;s LA-based law firm Lavely &amp; Singer. &#8220;We further demand that you add a prominent disclaimer to the film to that effect.&#8221;
&#8220;The AJC’s reporter is reduced to a sex-trading object in the film,&#8221; the letter declares. &#8220;Such a portrayal makes it appear that the AJC sexually exploited its staff and/or that it facilitated or condoned offering sexual gratification to sources in exchange for stories.&#8221;
The letter also accuses the filmmakers of failing to give the paper enough credit for its role in exonerating Jewell. Failure to meet the paper&#8217;s demands, the letter makes clear, may have serious legal ramifications.
Though Singer is known for his &#8220;pit bull tactics,&#8221; as <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/clint-eastwood-richard-jewell-kathy-scruggs-1203429660/">Variety</a> describes them, Warner Bros. was clearly not intimidated by his law firm&#8217;s threats.
In a response reported by <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/12/clint-eastwood-lawsuit-richard-jewell-movie-warner-bros-atlanta-journal-constitution-1202805069/">Deadline</a> Monday, the studio vowed to &#8220;vigorously defend&#8221; against the paper&#8217;s &#8220;baseless&#8221; claims and noted the &#8220;ultimate irony that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast.&#8221;
&#8220;The film is based on a wide range of highly credible source material,&#8221; the studio said in the statement. &#8220;There is no disputing that Richard Jewell was an innocent man whose reputation and life were shredded by a miscarriage of justice. It is unfortunate and the ultimate irony that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast. Richard Jewell focuses on the real victim, seeks to tell his story, confirm his innocence and restore his name.&#8221;
&#8220;The AJC’s claims are baseless, and we will vigorously defend against them,&#8221; the studio underscored.
The studio also noted that the film already includes a disclaimer at the end of the film, which reads: &#8220;The film is based on actual historical events. Dialogue and certain events and characters contained in the film were created for the purposes of dramatization.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/richard-jewell-now-faces-a-boycott-over-sexist-depiction-of-female-reporter">‘Richard Jewell’ Now Faces A Boycott Over ‘Sexist’ Depiction Of Female Reporter</a>

Warner Bros Backs Eastwood Film, Unloads On Newspaper Threatening Lawsuit

You ready to start fighting back?” Sam Rockwell asks the title character that question deep into “Richard Jewell.”
The Clint Eastwood film recalls how the FBI and media aligned to punish a security guard who saved lives at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Only the film feels like Eastwood is channeling a certain Commander in Chief.
Conservatives have spent the last three years fighting against a culture calling them racist, sexist, homophobic and more. They’ve been maligned for wanting to keep the borders secure and jobs from fleeing overseas. Reporters and celebrities alike led the charge against Red State America, <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/richard-jewell-press-reckless-corrupt-immoral/">forgoing the truth</a> for progressive narratives.
It’s well past time for a Hollywood movie to take their side. Only a rebel like Eastwood could fight back in Oscar-worthy fashion.
“I, Tonya” standout Paul Walter Hauser is Richard Jewell, a portly soul who pines to protect and serve. He’s stuck “serving” as a security guard at a university, a task he takes far too seriously, according to one supervisor.
Richard ends up on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics">Summer Olympics</a> security force, getting paid to hear Kenny Rogers serenade the crowd. One fateful night he spots a duffel bag left under a bench. His crude Spidey Senses tingle, and he alerts his fellow guards about its potential danger.
We know what happened next. Eastwood knows what we know, and he masterfully conducts the bombing with that in mind.
The press initially dubs Richard a hero, and he’s curious about the trappings of instant fame. That doesn’t last long.
The FBI, personified by a smug Jon Hamm, think Jewell planted the bomb himself to fulfill his hero fantasies. Hamm’s character shares that “tip” with journalist Kathy Scruggs (an occasionally over the top <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Wilde">Olivia Wilde</a>), and suddenly Richard’s insta-fame turns into a 20th century nightmare.
Richard was an overweight white male who owned guns and had no girlfriend or wife. Or, as Kathy puts it, “He’s a fat f*** who lives with his mom. How did we miss that?”
Our culture abhors racial profiling, unless the suspect ticks off those boxes, and then it’s game on. Richard found that out the hard way.
“Richard Jewell” plays out like a conservative’s dream assault on our corrupt media. The film weaponizes press clippings and news bytes from the era to state its case. Under Eastwood’s direction, “Real” news becomes an indictment of 21st century Fake News.
It’s impossible to read it any other way.
“Why did Tom Brokaw say that about you?” a marvelous Kathy Bates, playing Richard’s Ma, asks after the anchor convicts Richard on live TV. Never mind that the FBI had no true evidence against him save that damning “profile.”
Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips”) conspire to drag the press two decades before the institution disgraced itself on a weekly basis. The FBI prove equally inept here, rushing to judgment while tearing an innocent man’s life down in the process.
Hamm corrals his character’s ego, to some extent, channeling his outrage over a bombing happening on his “watch.” Wilde isn’t as fortunate.
Eastwood’s populist bent gets the better of him now and again. He fights against that instinct here, but he fails in two small scenes involving Wilde’s reporter.
It’s still telling when Kathy “prays” to be the one to find the bomber and that he turns out to be “f***ing interesting.” Praying for the victims isn’t high on her priority list.
Hauser’s Richard remains terminally clueless about the odds stacked against him, often siding with the forces out to take him down. The actor plays that balancing act without a hint of artifice. He’s a simple man, a decent soul who loves his Mamma and ain’t afraid of hard work.
Bring it, he says.
It’s why he stayed at his post the night of the bombing despite serious intestinal distress. You’re given a job. Do it, and do it well. It’s a quiet message that reverberates through the movie.
Once again, Eastwood knows his audience.
Compare that to Hamm and Wilde’s characters. Both toil in respected positions yet each is eager for something greater. More fame. More power.
Ray’s exceptional screenplay suggests Kathy slept with Hamm’s agent to snare information on Richard. Early media reports say that’s false, and Scruggs is no longer here to defend herself.
If “Richard Jewell” got that fact wrong, it’s both unfair and avoidable. Wilde could have played a composite character representing journalistic malpractice.
Hollywood remains liberal to the core, but flickers of Red State awareness can’t be contained. Ray’s script offers a prime example.
Several, actually.
At one point Richard wonders why being a legal gun owner makes him suspect. The Second Amendment has his back, right? “Is the NRA a fringe group?” Richard asks.
In other sequence, Watson’s assistant Nadya (Nina Arianda), in a thick Russian accent, weighs in on the case against Richard.
“Where I’m from, when government says you’re guilty, you’re innocent.”
The line, like so many here, packs more than one intention.
Jewell is no sanitized hero. He’s a Momma’s boy who doesn’t know when to shut his big yap. He’s got a curious background, from trying too hard as a college security guard to other dubious achievements.
It’s a growing headache for his attorney, played by recent Oscar winner Rockwell. He might just snare a second statuette for his performance. Rockwell’s Watson got to know Richard a decade prior to the bombing. Something about the sheepish giant, who he dubbed “Radar,” stuck with him.
Their bond offers some curious comic relief, the kind that flows from character without demeaning either party.
“Richard Jewell” packs a bevy of grace notes, like Bates’ mother trying to remove permanent marker off of her Tupperware. The FBI took it from her, labeling it as potential evidence.
It won’t rub off, a perfect metaphor for what the FBI did to her boy. He<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/true-story-olympic-park-bombing-richard-jewell-authors"> died in 2007</a> of diabetes-related heart failure. He was 44.
Early on Jewell shares his sweet but naive take about his beloved United States: “I believe in law and order…you can’t have a country without it.”
He’s right.
It took a movie by an 89-year-old auteur to remind us of that simple, elegant truth.
HiT or Miss: “Richard Jewell” is a testament to a wronged man, a cry against government overreach and an upper cut on Fake News’ jaw. It’s also one of the year’s best films.
A version of this article was also published on <a href="http://hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

“Richard Jewell” Premier.

TOTO: ‘Richard Jewell’ Crucifies Fake News, Honors The Heartland

Fake News

Director Clint Eastwood delivered yet another understated story about a regular Joe thrust into the spotlight due to unfortunate circumstances, only this time the fake news media gets a serious comeuppance, according to early reviews for the upcoming movie &#8220;Richard Jewell.&#8221;
Richard Jewell became a national hero during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when he discovered a bomb planted in Centennial Park. Risking his own life, Jewell successfully helped to evacuate the area, saving countless lives before the bomb detonated. As a result of his heroic feats, only one person died in the blast (a second person later died of a heart attack) while 111 people were injured.
Though first hailed for his triumphant efforts, things quickly turned sour for Jewell the moment the media learned that the FBI was investigating him as a potential suspect, believing he may have planted the bomb himself in order to gain notoriety. As reported by Christian Toto of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/richard-jewell-press-reckless-corrupt-immoral/?fbclid=IwAR2z7Uapf27nijyDIWwDPLuc6FBxZP1zgDm9UAPaHgzmcAgCR7AjFo0monc">HollywoodInToto</a>, early reviews indicate that Eastwood provides an unflinching look into the horrific three-month nightmare that Jewell endured until the FBI finally cleared him.
Writing at <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/richard-jewell-review-1256384">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, Todd McCarthy noted that &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; actually takes a bold step in a different direction by portraying the journalists, in this case, as the bad guys. Typically, as in the case of &#8220;All the President&#8217;s Men&#8221; and &#8220;The Post,&#8221; journalists are heroes bravely speaking truth to power; in &#8220;Richard Jewell,&#8221; the journalists are bullies cowardly speaking lies for power.
&#8220;Most Hollywood films about journalism since &#8216;All the President’s Men&#8217; 43 years ago have taken the free press’ side, portraying it as a scruffy if noble institution essential to the well-being of democracy,&#8221; wrote McCarthy. &#8220;Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray here take a rather different view of the Fourth Estate, portraying it as reckless, corrupt and immoral.&#8221;
&#8220;The mob of reporters covering the story resembles a plague of locusts, with any little tidbit being transformed into big news as the media tries to finger a culprit,&#8221; continued McCarthy. &#8220;Jewell, along with his mother, must endure this combination of attack and deprivation for three months until, finally, the FBI realizes that, from a purely logistical point of view, the young man couldn’t have physically pulled off what they believed he did.&#8221;
Writing at <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/richard-jewell-review-clint-eastwood-1202190791/">IndieWire</a>, Ryan Lattanzio said both the media and the FBI are portrayed as the &#8220;bad guys not to be trusted&#8221; while commending the film for attempting to give Richard Jewell justice.
Clint Eastwood received a <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/11/clint-eastwood-oscar-race-richard-jewell-1202792055/">standing ovation</a> when premiering the film at the AFI Fest this week.
The question now is whether or not reporters will appreciate the film. That depends entirely on whom you ask. Earlier this week, Kevin G. Riley, editor-in-chief for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – the publication that first reported about Jewell being a suspect – wrote an <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/atlanta-journal-constitution-editor-questions-accuracy-of-clint-eastwoods-richard-jewell-ahead-of-premiere/">email to TheWrap</a> blasting the movie for portraying the publication in such a negative light.
“By publishing the story, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to make the public, including Jewell’s own lawyer, aware of the government’s pursuit of Jewell as a suspect,” Riley argued. “The AJC’s leaders also recognized that law enforcement’s suspicions of Jewell were about to be made public whether or not the AJC published its story. The story placed law enforcement’s investigation in the public’s view and within its scrutiny.&#8221;

AFI FEST 2019 Presented By Audi – &#8220;Richard Jewell&#8221; Premiere – Arrivals

REPORT: Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Mercilessly Trashes The Fake News Media

&#8220;The world will know his name and know the truth,&#8221; says the tagline at the end of director Clint Eastwood&#8217;s powerful trailer for his latest film, &#8220;Richard Jewell.&#8221;
Before there was Brett Kavanaugh, before there was Nicholas Sandmann, and before there was Officer Darren Wilson or George Zimmerman, there was Richard Jewell: an innocent man whose life was nearly destroyed when the media and the FBI falsely accused him of domestic terrorism for no other reason than the fact he was a white fat southerner.
Richard Jewell became a national hero during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when he discovered a bomb planted in Centennial Park. Risking his own life, Jewell successfully helped to evacuate the area, saving countless lives before the bomb detonated. As a result of his heroic feats, only one person died in the blast (a second person later died of a heart attack) while 111 people were injured.
Though first hailed for his triumphant efforts, things quickly turned sour for Jewell the moment the media learned that the FBI was investigating him as a potential suspect, believing he may have planted the bomb himself in order to gain notoriety. As evidenced by the trailer, Clint Eastwood&#8217;s film will provide an unflinching look into this horrific three-month nightmare that Jewell endured until the FBI finally cleared him. Christian Toto of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/eastwood-richard-jewell-fake-news/">HollywoodInToto</a> said the movie will be a &#8220;punch in the nose&#8221; to the media:
<blockquote>We’ve been wallowing in Fake News long before Donald Trump descended from an escalator to start his presidential campaign.
Media bias is part of the modern news culture. It ‘roided up after reporters felt it was their mission to remove a sitting president, facts be damned.
And Clint Eastwood knows it.
You don’t get to be a movie star for decades, and decades, without a keen sense of the American people. Could that explain why the Hollywood legend is delivering a full-on assault on Fake News at this <a href="https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/lies-damned-lies-and-democrats-the-msm-dncs-worst-week-ever/">particular moment?</a>
The Oscar winner’s upcoming film, “Richard Jewell,” does more than show a man wrongly accused of a horrific crime.
The film’s first trailer delivers a smackdown on how the modern media operates.
Spoiler Alert: It’s all about the narrative.</blockquote>
Indeed, it is all about the narrative. At one point in the trailer, a journalist (played by Olivia Wilde) tells her newspaper editor that &#8220;Jewell fits the profile of a lone bomber, a frustrated white man who is a police wannabe who seeks to become a hero.&#8221; She says this without a lick of evidence to support her claims.
&#8220;We’re running it,&#8221; her editor says in reply.
They may be speaking about Richard Jewell, but his name could easily be replaced with Brett Kavanaugh, Nicholas Sandmann, or Darren Wilson and the story would be virtually the same.
Based on the 1997 <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1997/02/brenner199702" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Vanity Fair article, &#8220;American Nightmare — The Ballad of Richard Jewell,&#8221; </a> the film was written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray and stars character actor Paul Walter Hauser as Richard Jewell. Veteran actress Kathy Bates will be playing his mother, with Sam Rockwell as his attorney.
<iframe title="Richard Jewell – Official Trailer – Warner Bros. UK" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W9WjyYKPxHk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hollywood sign

WATCH: Clint Eastwood Takes On The Fake News Media In ‘Richard Jewell’ Trailer

In an interview with leftist media outlet <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sheryl-sandberg-planned-parenthood-donation-abortion-laws_n_5d151134e4b07f6ca57a55c1">HuffPost</a>, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg bragged about a whopping $1 million donation she recently made to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, an advocacy group owned by the eponymous abortion giant.
Sandberg told HuffPost that she is doing it to help Planned Parenthood fight what she calls the “draconian laws” recently passed by Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri to protect unborn children.
“I think this is a very urgent moment where the rights and the choices and the basic health of the most vulnerable women, the women who have been marginalized, often women of color, are at stake,” she said. “Planned Parenthood is going to fight back in the courts, in Congress, in the state houses, in the streets, for women’s health and rights.”
“If you are a wealthy woman, you can just fly to New York,” Sandberg continued. “I want to make sure that the women with the fewest resources still have access to these services, and I think that is slipping away every day in our country.”
“We all have to do everything we can to protect women,” she opined, noting that the massive donation came from her, personally — and not from Facebook.
The social media executive bragged that the gesture was “a very strong political statement.” However, Sandberg hedged on whether she supports the Hollywood-led boycotts of the pro-life states. She said that she neither supports nor condemn the boycotts.
“I certainly think people should do what they can,” Sandberg said.
Planned Parenthood President Dr. Leana Wen bragged about the support in a statement.
“Now, more than ever, Sheryl’s generous support is necessary to help Planned Parenthood fight back against unprecedented attacks on people’s health and rights,” Wen said, thanking Sandberg “for her longstanding commitment to Planned Parenthood and her leadership as a role model for women and girls everywhere.”
Wen added: “As anti-women’s health politicians try to pass extreme abortion bans across the country, our freedom and rights hang in the balance.”
This is not the first time Sandberg has given a large donation to the abortion lobby. According to <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/sheryl-sandberg-planned-parenthood-donation-abortion-laws-110000334.html">Yahoo! News</a>, she gave a similarly large donation to Planned Parenthood in 2017 to protest President Donald Trump’s order that international abortion lobbying organizations would be banned from receiving federal taxpayer funding.
Actress and left-wing activist Alyssa Milano has led a boycott against the state of Georgia after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a “heartbeat bill” that protects unborn children there after a heartbeat is detected.
“I will do everything in my power to get as many productions as possible, including ‘Insatiable,'&#8221; she said at the time. “To move out of this state which continues to put forth oppressive, hurtful policy that contradicts everything the entertainment industry stands for.&#8221;
As noted by The Daily Wire’s James Barrett, actor and director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48874/clint-eastwood-ignores-alyssa-milano-set-start-james-barrett">Clint Eastwood</a> is set to shoot his new film “The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” in Georgia, thus ignoring the calls for a boycott. The movie is directed by Eastwood and stars Paul Walter Hauser, Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, and Ian Gomez.

Facebook COO Donates $1 Million To Planned Parenthood

Abortion

Alabama

Alyssa Milano

Democratic Party

Facebook

Georgia

Planned Parenthood

Trump Administration

Despite the Alyssa Milano-led Hollywood boycott of &#8220;heartbeat&#8221; state Georgia, iconic actor and director Clint Eastwood is set to start filming his newest project in the state this summer.
After passing a &#8220;heartbeat bill,&#8221; which bans abortion in almost all cases after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, Georgia, which has become the third-largest film production state in the country, has become the target of a boycott effort endorsed by scores of Hollywood celebs. Leading the charge to pull film production out of the state is outspoken progressive activist Alyssa Milano, who helped generate a protest movement among her colleagues.
&#8220;I will do everything in my power to get as many productions as possible &#8212; including &#8216;Insatiable&#8217; &#8212; to move out of this state which continues to put forth oppressive, hurtful policy that contradicts everything the entertainment industry stands for,&#8221; Milano told <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/alyssa-milano-renews-call-to-boycott-georgia-after-governor-signs-anti-abortion-heartbeat-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TheWrap</a> after Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the abortion bill into law. The boycott threatens the billions the state makes in direct revenue through the film industry, including around <a href="http://fortune.com/2019/05/30/georgia-abortion-law-disney-netflix-nbcuniversal/">$2.7 billion</a> last year.
Other high-profile celebrities and some studios have gotten on board or threatened to do so, despite failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams urging them to consider an approach that doesn&#8217;t hurt the state, including donating to groups and candidates that will fight pro-life policies.
But as NBC News-affiliate <a href="https://www.wcnc.com/video/news/politics/clint-eastwood-will-produce-new-movie-in-georgia-despite-abortion-bill-boycott/275-6b394e02-ec0b-4b69-9cdd-6e89d0ed1242">WCNC</a> reports, one big name that is apparently not inclined to follow Milano&#8217;s progressive movement is Eastwood. &#8220;Legendary actor Clint Eastwood says he will start production on &#8216;The Ballad of Richard Jewell&#8217; this summer,&#8221; the outlet reports. &#8220;The news comes after Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, leading to boycotts from the movie and TV industry.&#8221;
&#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3513548/">The Ballad of Richard Jewell</a>,&#8221; which Eastwood is directing, stars Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, and Ian Gomez. &#8220;American security guard, Richard Jewell, heroically saves thousands of lives from an exploding bomb at the 1996 Olympics, but is unjustly vilified by journalists and the press who falsely report that he was a terrorist,&#8221; the film&#8217;s IMDB description reads.
Among those who are backing the Georgia boycott are &#8220;Game of Thrones&#8221; star Sophie Turner and her &#8220;Dark Phoenix&#8221; co-star Jessica Chastain. In an interview with <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/jessica-chastain-and-sophie-turner-vow-to-boycott-us-states-with-strict-abortion-laws-11728080">Sky News</a>, the two stars explained that they both signed the letter along with dozens of their colleagues pledging to boycott states with restrictive pro-life laws.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a letter going around that I signed saying I&#8217;m not going to work in any state that denies rights for women, for the LGBTQ community, for anyone,&#8221; said Chastain. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to work in a state that discriminates.&#8221;
&#8220;I signed it too,&#8221; said Turner. &#8220;I have yet to tell my agents I signed it. They&#8217;re going to be like: &#8216;What? You can&#8217;t work in these states?&#8217; Yeah, I can&#8217;t work in these states.&#8221;
But as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47891/sophie-turner-vows-never-work-anti-abortion-states-james-barrett">The Daily Wire</a> highlighted, Turner appears to have been less enthused to talk when asked about her work for years on &#8220;Game of Thrones&#8221; &#8212; the majority of which was filmed in Northern Ireland, which, as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/northern-ireland-abortion-alabama_n_5cdeb86de4b00e035b8e9e07">HuffPost</a> put it, has &#8220;some of the most restrictive abortion laws of any developed nation.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47891/sophie-turner-vows-never-work-anti-abortion-states-james-barrett">Sophie Turner Vows To Never Work In Anti-Abortion States, Gets Asked About Where &#8216;Game Of Thrones&#8217; Was Filmed</a>

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