Cindy Lee Garcia loses legal battle in anti-Islam film
Cindy Lee Garcia — the actress who claims she was misled into starring in the anti-Islam movie “Innocence of Muslims” — just lost a court battle when a judge declined to force YouTube to remove the film.
According to reports, a Los Angeles judge denied the request of Cindy Lee Garcia on Thursday for an emergency injunction that would have required YouTube to remove the film from its site. However, the judge found the actress’ claims against YouTube are without merit.
Previous reports have stated that Cindy Lee Garcia filed a lawsuit against “Innocence of Muslims” producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (also known as Sam Bacile) and YouTube, claiming that at the time of filming, she was led to believe she was acting in a “historical Arabian Desert adventure film.”
When the movie was released, Cindy claimed that it had been “changed grotesquely” to “make it appear that Ms. Garcia voluntarily performed in a hateful anti-Islamic production.”
The actress further claimed that her voice had been dubbed in the anti-Islam film to include lines that insulted the Muslim prophet, Muhammad, which she never said.
Even before her hearing, Cindy Lee Garcia addressed the media, telling them that her family’s lives had been threatened since the release of the movie, which is why she sought the injunction.
The actress said, “My whole life has been turned upside down.”
Garcia added that YouTube should be required to take down the anti-Islam film because it will cause more problems in the Middle East and for her own life.
During the media conference, the lawyer of Garcia said that the actress has been subjected to public mortification on a worldwide scale.
“It’s degrading, demoralizing … it affected our ambassador, our Navy SEALs … I think America needs to stand behind us on this. What [the director] did was wrong. So many people were affected by it.”