Though it seems like everyone has moved on from baselessly bashing the Sound of Freedom, CBS Mornings couldn’t find anything better to talk about Friday, as the network allotted a whopping seven minutes-and-change attempting to paint the movie as something of a QAnon conspiracy.
Apparently exposing the truths and travesties of the child trafficking network is just right-wing propaganda - that is, according to CBS. For starters, the chyron of the segment read, “‘Sound of Freedom’ Controversies.” Fill-in co-host Jamie Yuccas stated, “Sound of Freedom is a lightning rod for controversy and conspiracy theories,” adding that the movie has been embraced by “supporters of the fringe conspiracy theory, QAnon," who "falsely believe in the existence of widespread human trafficking rings run by Hollywood and so-called liberal political elites.”
In the segment, hosts spoke with writer-director Alejandro Monteverde, immediately asking how he feels about the film being at the center of so much controversy.
Again, I don’t think the illegal sexual exploitation and abuse of children is controversial. Nobody should ever be for it, full stop. But, I digress.
Funnily enough, Monteverde explained he went around the world to places including London and Latin America promoting the film, and there was never any mention of a "controversy" there.
“The U.S. is the megaphone,” he said, “these conspiracy theories do not exist over there.”
Then co-host Gayle King opened her fat mouth and claimed that the movie is “fueled by many people who believe the QAnon theories.” Monteverde nodded in understanding of her question, but not in agreement with her accusations.
Monteverde -- again, since the hosts still couldn't seem to get it through their heads -- directed everyone to why the movie was created in the first place, and completely squashed the not-so-hidden agenda CBS Mornings was attempting to push, saying:
The motive was so pure, it was just to shine a light on this darkness and in the beginning I was heartbroken and my instinct was to distance myself, just purely for protection. I knew the politics in so many ways divide, [but] this is not an issue that belongs to liberals, not an issue that belongs to conservatives. It is a fundamental human rights issue. The minute I start[ed] seeing these labels, it really broke my heart because it completely took a detour from the core. So in the beginning, yes, I was heartbroken until the people that work on the film, my co-writer, my cinematographer, you know all the artists that were working on the film said, “hey, you need to go and speak and share the core vision of why we did this.
Despite Monteverde’s redirect to focus on the facts of the film and its real-life implications, co-host Nate Burleson asked if the choice to cast Jim Caviezel as the main character was the right selection.
Monteverde then went on to explain that Tim Ballard, the man on whom the movie is based, wanted Caviezel to play the role due to the fact that he is a “man of faith.”
“One of the hardest part of my job is to transcribe all the sexual abuse materials when we caught a pedophile, when we caught him with thousands of hours of child pornography,” Monteverde said when talking about Ballard’s intentions for picking Cavezal.
At the end, the hosts did give a nod to the movie. King insisted it was important to recognize that the movie was made “before all these conspiracy theories.” Great, so out of a seven-minute segment trying to get Monteverde to claim the movie was based on a far right-wing conspiracy theories, a whopping 10 seconds was dedicated to agreeing the movie did a good thing by exposing the horrific child trafficking epidemic.
Honestly, the hosts should be embarrassed. They couldn’t get off the schtick that this movie was supported by “QAnon” and allowed it to essentially run and ruin the whole segment. Kudos to Monteverde for sharing the truth and holding his own.
