Innocence of Muslims
[7] What was perceived as denigration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad resulted in demonstrations and violent protests against the video to break out on September 11 in Egypt and spread to other Arab and Muslim nations as well as to some western countries.
[8][9][10][11] Fatwas calling for the harm of the video's participants were issued and Pakistani government minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour offered a bounty for the killing of Nakoula, the producer.
The trailer opens with a scene portraying the reportedly increasing persecution of Copts and poor human rights in Egypt around the time of the film's production, with increases in church burnings, religious intolerance and sectarian violence against the 10% population of Egypt that are Copts, as well as complaints that authorities have failed to protect this population.
As an Islamic call to prayer is sung from somewhere in the area, Muslims are shown committing arson and looting a business which appears to be the clinic, as police do nothing.
In the final shot of this segment, the police officer who had earlier been arguing in the clinic is seen standing passively in the street, holding some unidentified items presumably looted from the targeted businesses.
[23] It goes on to suggest that Muhammad was a rapist, pedophile, homosexual, and supported religious persecution, and that these actions were written into the Quran and contributed to the buildup of Islamist terrorist attacks.
A Vanity Fair article described the video as "Exceptionally amateurish, with disjointed dialogue, jumpy editing, and performances that would have looked melodramatic even in a silent movie, the clip is clearly designed to offend Muslims, portraying Mohammed as a bloodthirsty murderer, Lothario and pedophile with omnidirectional sexual appetites.
"[24] Reuters said "it portrays Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake and in one clip posted on YouTube, he was shown in an apparent sexual act with a woman.
[28] According to a consultant on the project, the videos are "trailers" from a full-length film that was shown only once, to an audience of fewer than ten people, at a rented theater in Hollywood, California.
[29] The film's original working title was Desert Warrior, and it told the story of "tribal battles prompted by the arrival of a comet on Earth".
[35] According to the casting.backstage.com announcement, it was to be "an HD 24P historical Arabian Desert adventure film" with "Sam Bassiel" as producer with shooting to start in August 2011.
American non-profit Media for Christ obtained film permits to shoot the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula provided his home as a set and paid the actors, according to government officials and those involved in the production.
[37] Steve Klein, an anti-Muslim and self-styled counter-jihad activist was hired as a consultant, and was relied on to sharpen the film's Islamophobic framing.
[40] Klein told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that despite previous claims, "Bacile" is not a real person and is neither Israeli nor Jewish and that the name is a pseudonym.
A local Hollywood blogger, John Walsh, attended a June 29 Los Angeles City Council meeting, where he raised his concerns about the title of a film to be screened that appeared to support the leader of al-Qaeda.
[54][55] A Current TV producer photographed the poster while it was being displayed at the theater as advertising to later discuss on the talk show The Young Turks.
In a translation provided by the ADL, the poster stated it would reveal "the real terrorist who caused the killing of our children in Palestine, and our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan",[57] a phrase that has been used by Palestinians to protest U.S. support of Israel.
[60] It was reported on September 14, 2012, that a planned screening by a Hindu organization in Toronto would be coupled with "snippets from other movies that are offensive to Christians and Hindus".
[63] The video clips were posted to YouTube on July 1 by user "sam bacile";[5] however, by September, the film had been dubbed into Arabic and was drawn to the attention of the Arabic-speaking world by blogger Morris Sadek.
[68] Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union said of this, "It does make us nervous when the government throws its weight behind any requests for censorship.
"[77] On February 26, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered YouTube to remove the video from its website by a 2–1 majority.
The ruling was in response to a complaint by actress Cindy Lee Garcia, who had objected to the use of her performance, which had been partially dubbed for its inclusion in Innocence of Muslims.
[80][81][82] Ibrahim Hooper, the National Communications Director and spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), advised that people should not watch the film.
[83] Protests were held in many nations, through Islamic countries in the Middle East,[84][85] Asia,[86][87] and Africa[86] as well as the United Kingdom,[86][88] France,[89] the Netherlands,[90] and Australia.
