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Subscribe to RSSQuestions swirled Wednesday around the makers of a provocative anti-Islam movie blamed by some for triggering protests at U.S. diplomatic outposts in Egypt and Libya and sparking an attack on the latter that claimed the life of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
At least one clip from what is described as a feature film titled “Innocence of Muslims” was posted on YouTube and later reposted after being translated into Arabic. The clip, an amateurish production featuring dozens of actors, portrays Muhammad, believed by Muslims to be God’s prophet, as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser.
Reports published by The Associated Press and the Wall Street Journalidentified the filmmaker as Sam Bacile. The AP described Bacile as a 56-year-old Israeli American real estate developer from California; the Journal said he was a 52-year-old real estate developer, but did not say where he lived. Both news organizations said that they interviewed Bacile, who was said to be in hiding, by phone, and both quoted him as saying the film was intended to show that "Islam is a cancer."
"This is a political movie," the AP quoted him as saying. "The U.S. lost a lot of money and a lot of people in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we're fighting with ideas."
But by midday Wednesday, Bacile's credibility -- indeed his very existence -- were being questioned:
- The Atlantic quoted a man reported by the AP to be a consultant on the film, Steve Klein, as saying that “Bacile” is a pseudonym and that the filmmaker “is not Israeli and most likely not Jewish.”
Klein, a self-described militant Christian activist in Riverside, Calif., told the Atlantic he doesn’t know the man’s real name and indicated that the filmmaker contacted him because he leads anti-Islam protests outside mosques and schools.
- A source close to the cast and crew of the film told NBC News that the man known as Bacile misled the actors and production crew.
"The entire crew and cast are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer," the source said. "We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
- Israeli officials also told the AP that there is no record of an Israeli citizen named Sam Bacile.
- California corporate records show no one by that name as holding a real estate license there.
The 13-minute, English-language trailer was posted on YouTube in July by an account registered to Sam Bacile. The account, which was created in April, lists Bacile's age as 75 and has been used only twice apart from posting the trailer -- once to "like" another video and to make one comment, in Arabic. That comment, which referenced a debate on Egyptian TV over the "Innocence of Muslims" clip, was translated as, "Oh, Animal, it’s 100% an American movie."
The trailer shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults cast as revelations about Muhammad.
Many Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any manner, let alone insult the prophet. A Danish newspaper's 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet triggered riots in many Muslim countries.
The Journal reported the film had been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Qurans previously sparked deadly riots in Pakistan and other Muslim nations.
Jones, the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., told NBC News on Wednesday that he aired the trailer once in his makeshift church. But he said efforts to screen it on Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were thwarted by technical difficulties.
NBC's Kerry Sanders talks about the controversial pastor's history of provocative acts against Islam and how he may be tied to an inflammatory film that has sparked uproar within the global Muslim community.
"We tried to stream it … and every time we did that, it was cut off, disappeared,” he said.
A statement on the pastor’s political website, posted late Tuesday, said that the screening was to have been part of a day-long ‘International Judge Muhammad Day’ in which the Muslim prophet would be subjected to a mock trial for “promoting murder, rape, and destruction of people and property through his writings called the Koran.”
Jones also told NBC’s Kerry Sanders that he had been in contact with the movie’s producer, but did not provide financial support for its production or distribution.
The AP also reported that Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian in the United States known for his anti-Islam views, said he was promoting the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.
Although it was posted to YouTube in July, the film only attracted attention in the Middle East after an unknown person recently dubbed it into Egyptian Arabic. That translation, which the man who identified himself as Bacile told the AP was accurate, has been broadcast repeatedly on Egyptian media in recent weeks after being seized upon by extreme Islamists who dislike the presence of the country’s Coptic Christians.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The envoy is the first American ambassador killed on duty since 1979.
Film news site The Wrap said the Arabic-dubbed version had garnered more than 40,000 views by Tuesday afternoon. However, that clip appeared to have been taken down on Wednesday.
The AP quoted the man who identified himself as Bacile as saying that the film was made in the summer of 2011, with 59 actors and about 45 people behind the camera. The Journal quoted him as saying that the film cost $5 million, which was raised from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify.
The man also told the AP that the full film, which he said is three hours in length, was shown only once, to a mostly empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year.
No record of such a screening could be found.
NBC News' Alfred Arian, Kerry Sanders and Bob Sullivan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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This man should be arrested and put on trial for the killing of the US Ambassador and others. He knew the trouble this film would cause but did it anyway. Now he is in hiding. Why is he hiding? He achieved what he wanted now he needs to pay the price. The only thing he did not do is pick up a gun and shoot the people himself. He had others do it for him. This is gulity, guilty and guilty. Tried and should be put to death.
Well, at least you are willing to give him a trial before putting him to death. Sounds fair. Maybe the UN or US should publish a list of what world peoples can and can't say. That should solve the problems.
are122,,,,,, no that wouldn't solve the "problem," maybe a permanent tattoo across a forehead stating,,,,," I do not speak out , out of freedom of speech,, I speak out because of ignorance.
Having no respect for other cultures is NOT an excuse.
so if someone says they hate libtards or republitards that gives all of the other people the right to kill them because they knew it would offend someone? Are you really that stupid, there would be no one left alive by your logic.
Wow! It's a good thing that we're not fighting for our independence like our forefathers did, or else few would have the backbone to fight! Lame comments like, "he knew that this would incite violence" or "he should be tried for murder"; absolute stupidity!! If something is worth fighting for, then FIGHT! Secondly, they, and they alone are responsible. IF you want to live your live cowering in a corner worried about offending somebody, you might as well lock yourself up and throw away the key. If we don't go over there, hunt down these COWARDS and take care of business, then we are just inviting them to do it again. The expectation should be for ALL people everywhere to behave like human beings, not to refrain from making a statement for fear of offending somebody. While it is true that there are consequences of certain actions, like this, if the cause is just, then it is worth fighting for. Islam is currently the most intolerant religion in the world, so why should we be tolerant OF it, instead of speaking out against it. Our founding fathers worked hard to guarantee religious freedome for everybody in this country, but civil laws must still be obeyed.
However, with the way Muslims are responding to this video. He is right. They are a hedonistic people.
Being right does not bestow wisdom.
may not bestow wisdom, but may share knowledge. He did this with the intent of showing how himself and a lot of Israeli's feel about that religion/cult/government pattern. This dude I am sure didn't do it to intentionally get Americans killed. Bad move, bad reaction, bad a lot of things
I looked at the trailer, "Innocence of Muslims" and found it poorly written, poorly acted and just plain dumb. Those who would be moved to excitation over something like this are demonstrating their own insecurity and ignorance which is the world of Islam. Probably only Muslims and Mormons have a religious story that is so far outside any historical and substantive archeological fact or any evidence that can support it. I find the idea that Muhammad was a sex crazed womanizer who was also a pedophile that rose to the level of a prophet fascinating. Therein lies the tale of the many virgins for martyrdom. What a pathetic people.
This is just a start. Thanks to the president and how weak he has made this country over the last three years.
I guess this gives muslims the right to murder folks because some one offends them. The bastards offend me but I don't go killing any of them but I do hope that the Americans wake and do something about the cancer that is among us. Is it going to happen in the US next.????? Or should I say again
Well, that didn't take long. Now it's the President's fault?
Just couldn't resist, could you?
When they made Jesus Christ superstar depicting the Christ getting married and having babies, did christians run around blowing stuff up? Nope..why? Because that wasn't what the Christ taught them to do. Hmmm
So let me get this right, If I say Muhammed was a pedifile, porn loving fag on the internet, that gives the middle east the right to Kill people ? They will start riots if I tell them that there holly man was a piece of cow dung ? Im just trying to understand. A "" movie"" that maybe 300 people had seen is the reason 3 are dead ?? Oh ok so they do like us, they just need good reason to kill us. Well lets all apologize to them and get mad at the American. Oh wait the goverment already did that. Further, we should be such a weak country that we do NOTHING to react to this attack against our Embassy.. For you who do not know an Embassy is The United States and is protected Under U.S. law.
Dear God,
You really do need to work on sentence structure and meaning. "The United States is protected under US law? What does that mean?
William, you didn't read it right. The US Embassy, no matter where it is located (same for every other country's embassys as well) are considered to be that country's soil. ie, if we have an embassy in Russia, the ground that the embassy stands on is US soil. Russia's embassy in the US is Russian soil. To invade the embassy is the same in theory as invading that country.
what a coward. he knew this response was going to happen and he took the cowards way out. oh sure i can say what i want and if other people die so be it. i would like to know just what mr. Romney would have done differently, since he's slamming the President. Oh i forgot he's a Bu@!$%#e so he'd fire up the conservative chicken hawk machine and commit a zillion US troops to take over Lybia and Egypt. as for the nut job who produced this video stop being a gutless piece of s..t come out of hiding face these people who you slander and accuse and stop using our Constitution to spread your obvious hatred for another culture's religion, Christianity enslaved and murdered countless cultures in the name of God.
He is as much of an idiot as the Islamists that stormed and killed people at our Embassy(s). Of the same caliber and nothing less...
Are you HIGH ! A movie gets made and you compare that to Murderers. May have been a stupid movie, I don't know didn't see it. But dammed if I go out killing people over a bad movie.
Islam has no tolerance for any ideas outside of the ones brainwashed into their thick skulls from birth. Freedom of speech only exists in free countries, yet backwards, uneducated and illiterate people all over the world still perceive Islam as the 'right thing to do' even when it is obviously a bad idea.
"Bacile, a California real estate developer, told the AP he believes the movie will help his native land" at America's expense?
The Jews and the Muslims are just two ends of the same piece of cloth. Yet the US spend billions helping Israel and Egypt, Libya and dozens of others. Keep us out of these never ending conflicts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Allen,
You need to educate yourself. The Jews, the Christians and the Muslims are from the Abrahamic branch of the world religions. Christians and Jews have more in common than either with the Islamic branch. Jesus was a jew so that must really stick in your throat.
William, Allen does not care if Jesus was a jew or black or african or green with blue stripes...his comment is about the followers of religion and people, not the religions beliefs.
It's about a conflict in an area with the people of that area not able to get along and us playing any role in it.
There are many people in the USA who don't believe that Israel is some holy land or anything like that and why are we spending billions for religious fanatics who believe the land is "theirs" fighting against religious fanatics who believe the land is "theirs".
I don't believe that Islam is a peaceful religion, but I feel that this film maker is an idiot for showing Mohammed as being evil. That was uncalled for as he knew that it would rile up the extremists, especially those who are poor and easily moved by mob mentality. The translator is a fool who is bringing further destruction to his own country. I think we should deport this writer back to Israel because we don't want the Muslims here starting to riot and attack our government buildings because he's taking refuge here.
I thinks Bacile is an IMBACILE!
I agree, Allen. But you might want to use the spell-checker before you post.
Just a friendly suggestion. :-)
Wayne, Allen still hasn't figured out what that squiggly red line under words he writes means.
and it seems maybe both of you don't know how to catch wordplay in incorporating the guy's name into the word...
Truth is the enemy of islam. The bogus myth of an islamic golden age - it was muslims taking the credit for the accomplishments of all the infidels they conquered. Just ask any Persian....oh wait, they destroyed that civilization. The dark ages of Europe? Couldn't have had anything to do with the rampant muslim piracy which shut down commerce could it?
Bacile, a California real estate developer, told the AP he believes the movie will help his native land - which is Israel, with allies like Israel who needs enemies?
What is almost as disheartening as the violence, death and destruction that goes on in the name of that 'religion of peace', is the reasoning of some the respondents to this article. To follow the line of 'reasoning', if I make a movie or write an article or some other form of expression that would criticize water skiers for causing too much wake on a lake, then it would be perfectly ok for all the water skiers in the world to attack the newspaper building. After all, the newspaper prints newspapers, and the 'offending criticism' was potentially printed on paper -- in fact, even the forests would be fair game to be burned down since paper is made from trees -- in fact since houses are at least partiallly made from trees that are used to make paper which is used to print the criticism of water skiers who started this whole mess by causing too much wake in the lake to begin with --- well, let's just drain the lake and solve the problem. No one will be able to enjoy the 'freedom' of using the lake anymore, but at least our thin-skinned water skiers will not be offended. Moral -- as long as you can blame someone else as the cause of reacting to hatred of water skiers, or in this case non-Muslims, anything goes. Just don't place the blame where it lies -- at the feet of the ones causing the wake, or in this case, killing US Ambasadors, buring US Embasies, and wanting to destroy anything not reading from right to left.
Religion is a cancer, period.
that this idiot is in hiding - proves how much faith he has in his own God... Maybe idiots like this Bacile should keep their moronic little videos to themselves... I especially like that he blames the deaths of 4 of his fellow Americans on the lack of security at the embassy, rather than on himself - he sounds like a Republican to me...
I don't get blaming the guy for the death of the inocent people in Libyia and Egypt. His crime is making an insulting movie. Did he know what might happen? Maybe. Did he kill anyone? Not at all.
A bunch of people saw a film they didn't like and went berzerk and killed people who had nothing to do with the film. These are the reall bad guys. Again... they watched or even heard about a movie they didn't like... and then murdered people.
This guy? He heard about a religion he didn't like... and he made a movie about it. One guy made a bad cheep movie. The other guys murdered people. Big differeance. These people who are murdering others about the movie? They want the people making it to catch blame. They want people to be afraid of making movies. This is terrorism at its best. They want to bully people and scare people into acting the way they want.
I hope this idiot spends the rest of his life looking over his shoulder....wondering who can tamper with his car, or who is serving his food or driving next to him on a freeway, who has access to his financials and phone and email, and wondering when his number is up. I hope he causes his family untold stress. The kind of horror his wave of bigotry and ignorance has just caused needs to be "rewarded".
Good night -- all of this because the guy writes bad comedy? When was the last time you laughed at a parody of Obama, or Bush, or a christian televangelist? I would bet you even money you have done that and never thought a thing about it. Maybe even talked about it at work the next day and got a few laughs of your own. Did you go on a murderous rampage? Even if the subject of the parody was about something you care deeply about? I would imagine you just shrugged it off, appreciated the humor, or at least the attempt at humor, and went on with your normal life. So now, this guy writes this script and films this movie, which by his own admission has played to an almost empty house on its apparent only showing a year or so ago. By the feedback about the movie it was lousy at best, and even in its lousiness warranted only a small moment of fame on the internet. Not until it was translated in Arabic did it stir the pot. So, for this you want to condemn this man to a life-long sentence of misery -- all for the crime of being an untalented writer? Maybe not even a bad writer in bad taste? Get real! The culprits in this whole thing, the real 'bad guys', are the Muslims who want to stir up the hatred they need against the West to fulfil their political and religious purposes. Open your eyes and don't be a sheeple. Don't let an unfunny comedian distort the rights you have as an American -- and don't make the mistake of thinking that the Muslims in the Middle East, the radical ones, play by the same rules of civiliaztion you do.
f*ck Israel, f*ck Islam, and f*ck the xtians.
Can't stand any of them...wish I could push a button and every damn one of them would quit breathing my air.
And tompca F*CK YOU.
Hitchens not Hutchins....it's early
That's OK. I understood who you meant.
It is so easy to goad others by making inflammatory moving and then go into hiding when the going gets tough. Perhaps we should send this fool movie maker to Libya to take the place of the ambassador if that were possible. Push and probe and needle people and then, when they respond, you point at those people and condemn them. Not a word about the movie maker. We are a sorry lot in this country.
‘Innocence of Muslims,’’ was produced by Sam Bacile. This guy is israeli...
its another plot to start violence by people who either belong to or love israel.
every body knows from past incidents that you cann't show Mohammed as a person or object (its against muslim views), this guys does that same again around 9/11...guess why
and Israel is staying away from this AS USUAL..
and there is Netanyahu trying influence american elections by firing again again agianst Obama..
wake up people!!
He remains defiant, huh? If he is so "defiant" then he should continue to stand up in plain sight for his so called beliefs instead of going into hiding like a coward! Because of him and his ideology of hatred 4 innocent people are dead....