As the 2019 film was released on Richard Jewell, so did most of the controversy revolving around Kathy Scruggs. In the Clint Eastwood film about the bombing, Kathy was illustrated as a woman who slept with sources for scoops.

This part was fabricated hugely and the people who knew her took great offense to the plot.

A justified reporter like her being portrayed as a s** trader for news and her image being diminished by such low action was critiqued largely by her friends and family.

Moreover, it is said that the Richard scoop fell in her lap and she was pressured to do it quickly otherwise somebody else would run the story.