Media outlets ripped for 'Sound of Freedom' criticism
Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard discusses the significance of the movie 'Sound of Freedom' to bring awareness to child trafficking and calls criticism ‘grotesque.’
The film "Sound of Freedom," which focuses on bringing attention to the global crisis of child trafficking, has been a big success in recent weeks, even topping "Indiana Jones" at the box office on July 4th weekend.
However, some in the media have criticized the film and downplayed the significance of the message the movie delivers. Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard, whose organization inspired the film, joined "Fox & Friends" Monday to call out the "grotesque" criticisms that the movie has received from leftists in the media.
Multiple liberal outlets have trashed "Sound of Freedom" as "QAnon-adjacent" and "fit for QAnon" in recent days, descriptions that relegate the film about human trafficking to fodder for conspiracy theorists.
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Both U.K. publication The Guardian and website Jezebel claimed that the film starring Jim Caviezel, which was based on the true story of a U.S. Homeland Security agent rescuing two young children from human traffickers in South America, was attached to QAnon, a right-wing community that has been accused of buying into fringe conspiracy theories.
Although the film, produced by Angel Studios and released over the July 4 holiday, never engages in such conspiracy theories while exposing the underbelly of the real underground sex slave trade, both outlets linked the film to fringe right-wing extremists in an attempt to discredit it and its box-office success.
Ballard said about the QAnon claims, "I can't explain, and neither can they. Every show I've seen, they just like to throw the word out, QAnon. They make zero connection to the actual story. It's very difficult to make that connection when it's actually based on a true story."
While patriotic at its core, the movie's inclusion of big-name actors from various Latin-American countries aims to help spread awareness about the crime on a global scale, according to Matt Osborne. (Angel Studios/ 'The Sound of Freedom')
The former DHS investigator emphasized that every child and villain represented in the movie were based on actual events, calling it "sick" for people to come out against the film and compare it to conspiracies.
"This is just some other agenda, who would want to get the backs or run interference for pedophiles and human traffickers? That's the more important question in all this. Why would you want to lie to push an agenda whose goal is to have children be in captivity? It's kind of sick," said Ballard.
Author Mike Rothschild said on CNN that the film was created out of a "moral panic" and based on "bogus statistics … and fear."
Ballard didn't hold back in his criticism of Rothschild's analysis.
"As that guy is talking, and he's nobody's hero, by the way, I can't imagine any kid looking at him thinking he's going to help them out. But I think of the children that are really depicted in that film. I know what happened to them. Those children were the subjects of child rape videos. Those children were being sold for sex. In total, you see over 120 kids actually are rescued."
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'The Sound of Freedom' is, at times, difficult to watch and meant to make viewers feel discomfort toward the grotesque reality of the abusive, $150 billion global criminal enterprise that is child trafficking. (Angel Studios/ 'The Sound of Freedom')
"It's embarrassing and frankly, grotesque for this guy who knows nothing to start throwing out terms like QAnon and connecting it to a real story," said Ballard.
Ballard responded to co-host Brian Kilmeade who called the criticisms "bizarre" and said it makes critics sound "like they are pro-sex trafficking."
"That's how it feels to me. It feels like there's some other agenda, because why do this?" Ballard added.
The Guardian also trashed the notion that this was a box office success, stating, "No matter that these figures require selective, almost willfully misleading framing to allow for the David-and-Goliath narrative trumpeted by supporters; as the copious tweets accusing Disney of being in cahoots with a global cabal of high-power pedophiles make clear, the truth doesn’t have too much purchase around these parts."
Jezebel’s piece on the film called it "an Anti-Child Trafficking Fantasy Fit for QAnon" and claimed, "At last, QAnon’s camp appeal gets the cinematic exploration it demands."
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Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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