In 2013, while reporting on the conviction of two Steubenville, Ohio, high school football players for the rape of a 16-year-old, Harlow stated that it was "incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart ... [Ma'lik Richmond] collapsed [and told his attorney,] 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.'" This apparent expression of sympathy for the rapists provoked widespread criticism.