r/interesting • u/VIVIDUFF • 18h ago
HISTORY From national hero to public enemy in 72 hours.
Remembering Richard Jewell. The security guard who saved hundreds of lives during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. Instead of being honored, the FBI and media falsely painted him as the bomber, completely destroying his life before the real terrorist, Eric Rudolph, was caught.
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u/Mrlearnalot 18h ago
Yeah this poor guy. They destroyed his life, so sad. And he was a hero
The movie was fantastic, with Paul Walter Hauser and Kathy Bates
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u/not_roger_smith 17h ago
The movie also portrayed a reporter getting fucked by an FBI agent to get the lead on Richard Jewel.
If you listen to the r/behindthebastards episode about this it's all just the FBI being shit bags.
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u/Gorf_the_Magnificent 17h ago edited 15h ago
The real-life reporter - Kathy Scruggs - died in 2001, so she was unable to defend herself against the implication in the movie that she traded sex for news tips. People who knew and worked with her called the scene "appalling," "offensive," and completely untrue. But because she was no longer alive, no legal action was taken.
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u/RichardSnoodgrass 17h ago
There's a bit of irony here. Reporter playing fast and loose in turn gets her rep put in question by media (movie makers) playing fast and loose. Oh well, what can you do?
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u/More_Soil_9464 9h ago
Good, she ruined a man’s life just so she could get to press first. Didn’t do her due diligence and it cost that man everything. She never apologized and died (from drugs) still saying she did nothing wrong. Hope she’s warm down there where she belongs.
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u/Gorf_the_Magnificent 7h ago
A court eventually dismissed Jewell's lawsuit against Scruggs and her newspaper, ruling that the reporting was true at the time it was published because Jewell genuinely was the FBI's primary suspect.
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u/DisciplineImportant6 11h ago
Oh wow she doesn’t like being slandered? Huh guess she knows how it feels now. Or she would if she wasn’t a pos drug addict who overdosed.
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u/Mrlearnalot 17h ago
Damn I don’t remember that from the movie. I only watched it once though, to be fair.
Crazy
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u/VirginiaLuthier 18h ago
Last I heard the Atlanta Constitution never retracted their stories that he was the bomber
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u/GrandFloor6202 16h ago edited 10h ago
News stories never say such things directly. They always back off of claiming facts directly by attributing a claim to some other source. People just read it as fact.
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u/BillyJoeFromBawlmer 16h ago
Tortured for doing his job and appearance while the clean cut, real bomber, Rudolph, was a Christian nationalist, white supremacist who also bombed three abortion clinics.
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u/bobsmeds 17h ago
And yet somehow it would've been even worse for him if social media existed back then
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u/Demurrzbz 17h ago
Who knows, could have been the public would have been rooting for him loudly enough for courts to consider it.
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u/Dr_Misfit 17h ago
People are stupid and just assume the liability of others/(victims even) when it seems like it.
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u/Used_bot-repo 17h ago
What is the movie playing on. I've been searching and the guy that plays him is great
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u/Yggdrasil- 17h ago
Looks like it's not currently in any streaming libraries, at least in the US. But you can rent it on Amazon, YouTube, apple tv, etc. for a few bucks. The actor's name is Paul Walter Hauser - one of the best character actors working today imo
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u/Used_bot-repo 17h ago
Thanks for the information. He is definitely one of my favorites like the bad guy in fifth element Gary something I think (man I'm bad with names).
Been trying to find demolition man also but I won't pay for streaming
I go to value village and always look for it. I'll watch it in my vehicle if I have to but there are always cd players for sale
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u/ChicagoRex 14h ago
His acting career almost never took off because of Jamie Taco. Thankfully he had a very supportive wife.
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u/Moondancer68 5h ago
Despite having a very supportive wife, he did have a fallout with his friends over the fact that he always says he will stay the night, but never stays the night.
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u/DougFucketts 15h ago
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u/Used_bot-repo 15h ago
Interesting. I use to torrent all the time and the pylon guy. Then steaming came along and got lazy
I think it's time to get back into it
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u/Few_Emu2450 17h ago
Why’d he die so young
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u/POGsarehatedbyGod 14h ago
He was a little chubby/obese plus everything that happened to him with stress and probably eating a lot of junk food.
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u/Ok_Hospital1399 12h ago
Everything about this story hurts to read. I'm somewhat surprised I was not previously familiar with it.
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u/Accurate-Survey6985 6h ago
Many people are wronged through oversimplification in life.
Sometimes that ends in tragedy.
This is an extraordinarily tragic story.
He went above and beyond.
And he got fucked for it.
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u/RandomExcess 18h ago
Was there any reason to believe they may have acted in cahoots?
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u/TheMightyShoe 17h ago
No. Jewel was falsely accused to prevent "mad bomber on the loose" stories from damaging the ATL Olympics tourist income. His life was destroyed for profit.
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u/MomusSinclair 16h ago
I think it was an Intelligence Op that Jewell interrupted. Him finding the bomb denied them their catastrophe.
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