This is no joke. It’s a matter of free speech.
In an episode as shameful as it is un-American, obscure LA filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was picked up by Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies acting like jackbooted thugs.
Nakoula was paraded in front of a hostile media, his face hidden behind a scarf reminiscent of Claude Rains in “The Invisible Man,’’ and delivered into the hands of federal authorities for interrogation. Ostensibly, officials wanted to know if a cruddy, little film Nakoula created on a tiny budget violated terms of his probation for financial crimes — because he was forbidden to use the Internet.
What rot.
Nakoula is the creator of “Innocence of Muslims,’’ a sleazy film meant to hit Islamists where they live. It’s been blamed for anti-American riots in 20 countries, from Libya to Lebanon.
It may not be a good film, but it has every right to exist — a right guaranteed by no less than the US Constitution.
Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson weeps.
The questioning of Nakoula on a flimsy pretext was a ploy to scare him. And it sent a message of appeasement to maniacs in the Middle East: America is on your side!
The government also went after YouTube, asking the Google-owned company whether “Innocence’’ violated its terms of usage. To its credit, YouTube refused to take down the film’s trailer in the West, although it yanked the offensive video from several Arab countries.
When did the land of the free turn on its own people?
When “Innocence of Muslims’’ — then called “Innocence of Bin Laden’’ — unspooled for one day at Hollywood’s Vine Theater in June, the faded popcorn joint was deserted.
Even the most virulently anti-Islamist Americans did not care to see this noxious film, in which Muslims are portrayed as pedophiles and the revered prophet Mohammed as a sex fiend. It’s the cinematic bastard child of Leni Riefenstahl and Daffy Duck.
But rather than crack down on the murderous militants who used it as an excuse for violence, our government is begetting more bloodshed — by acting like a movie critic.
“Innocence of Muslims’’ tests an American value that liberals and conservatives alike claim they revere: the First Amendment guarantee to freedom of speech, no matter how rude and obnoxious. If you don’t like a work of art — as I despise the famous photo of a crucifix dunked in urine — you have every right to complain. You don’t have the right to burn the infidels who put it there.
Yet under the administration of President Obama, the United States has gone down a dangerous path by appeasing the horde.
In Lebanon, Hardee’s and KFC fast-food chains were attacked.
In Tunisia, thousands of demonstrators shouted, “Obama, Obama, we’re all Osamas.’’ Jordanian Salafist leader Abdul Qader Shehadeh exercised his right to spew by blaming a familiar target — Jews.
“I tell American Zionists that your support to Jews will be eventually be your end,’’ he raved.
Anti-film violence was blamed for the killing in Libya of American Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three colleagues. Now, it appears the demonstrations were used by terrorists, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, as cover for pre-meditated murder.
But rather than defend the filmmaker’s right to vent against societies trapped in the Stone Age, our leaders issued a familiar, knee-jerk response: an apology.
If there is any irony in this mess, it’s this: “Innocence’’ trailers have drawn millions of YouTube hits, giving a wide audience to a film nobody wanted to see.
Free speech isn’t dead. Not yet.