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Innocence of Muslims

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Note: This entry may be considered offensive to some viewers. Please read at your own discretion.

Background

On July 2nd, 2012, YouTuber SamBacile uploaded two 13-minute video clips titled “The Real Life of Muhammad” and “Muhammad Movie Trailer,”[1] which showed excerpts from a full-length feature film titled Innocence of Muslims, produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian immigrant from Egypt living in Cerritos, California, and directed by Alan Roberts. The video featured lewd scenes that could be seen as denigrating to Prophet Muhammad, whose depiction in any shape or form is strictly forbidden by the Islamic law.



The film remained largely obscure until early September 2012, when duplicate videos dubbed in the Arabic language were uploaded onto YouTube and picked up by Egyptian bloggers and news publications, triggering a series of anti-American protests in the wake of the videos that have been characterized as “anti-Islamic.” As of September 18th, the original YouTube clip uploaded by SamBacile has gained more than 9.5 million views.



Notable Developments

On September 8th, the video was picked up and broadcast by the Egyptian TV station Al-Nas, which fueled its viral momentum. On September 11th, 2012, anti-American protests began erupting outside the U.S. diplomatic mission compounds in Cairo, Egypt and Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans including the ambassador J. Christopher Stevens were killed after rocket-propelled grenades and small arms were fired. Though some U.S. officials claimed that the attack in Benghazi was planned in advance unrelated to the film, it was widely linked to the controversial reception of the YouTube video trailer in the news media. In the following days, protests spread across the rest of the Muslim world in Morocco, Iran, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.



News Media Coverage

The day after the attack in Benghazi, Libya, Associated Press[2] identified a 55-year-old California resident Nakoula Basseley Nakoula as the producer of the film. Nakoula initially denied any affiliation to the YouTube handle Sam Bacile in the interview, but follow-up inquiries launched by the Associated Press and other news sites like Gawker[4][5], Los Angeles Daily News and LA Weekly linked Nakoula to the account that was used to upload the video and confirm its origin via comment on the day of the Benghazi attack in a duplicate version uploaded by Egypt’s Al-Nahar TV. Written in Arabic, Sam Bacile’s comment read: “It is a 100 percent American movie, you cows.” In addition, New York Times[6] and The Guardian[8] provided real-time coverage of the anti-American protests in the Muslim countries.



Cast and Crew’s Response

That same on September 12th, CNN[12] published an official statement release from the film’s 80 cast and crew members who denounced the film by saying:

“The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. […] We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred.”

YouTube Restricts Access

In the wake of attacks on the U.S. embassies, YouTube announced that it had temporarily restricted access to the video in Egypt and Libya, while Afghanistan decided to block access to the video-sharing site altogether.

The Director’s Identity

On September 14th, Gawker[3] published an article titled “The Director of ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Is a Schlocky Softcore Porn Director Named Alan Roberts,” linking the little-known director of the film to a number of adult films released in the 1970s and 1980s. That same day, Vice Magazine released a copy of the film’s post-production invoice records that listed a payee named Robert Brownell, which according to his associates is Alan Robert’s real name.



Search Interest



External References


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