Questions Surface After Military Base Abruptly Cancels ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Screenings

The producer of the summer blockbuster hit Sound Of Freedom is firing back after two screenings of the film at a military base was mysteriously cancelled, with questions now surfacing as to why.

Military Base Cancels Sound Of Freedom Screening

The military base U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Doral, Florida was supposed to host two screenings for Sound Of Freedom, the anti-child trafficking film that has grossed over $200 million at the box office, but these showings were mysteriously cancelled.

Eduardo Verástegui, the producer of Sound Of Freedom, has spent weeks trying to convince the military base to reschedule the screenings, but to no avail at the time of this writing.

“I made Sound of Freedom to raise awareness of the rampant sex trafficking in children happening throughout Latin America and into the United States with the goal of ending this modern-day slave trade,” Verástegui told Fox News. “Because SOUTHCOM’s brave soldiers work to break up the transnational criminal organizations responsible for drug and sex-trafficking into the U.S., we wanted to inspire and thank them for their service by offering a private screening on base.”

The screenings had been scheduled for August 28 and October 19, but base leadership abruptly cancelled them, only saying that they did so in order to “prevent the appearance of copyright infringement.”

Verástegui, however, is not buying this excuse, saying that he “made it 100% clear that there are no copyright concerns with SOUTHCOM hosting the movie while it was in theaters.”

Filmmakers behind Sound Of Freedom told SOUTHCOM that they “fully support our men and women in uniform” and there be “no circumstances” in which “copyright or intellectual property infringement claims” would be made against the command.

Even Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) got involved, sending a letter to SOUTHCOM calling on them to reschedule the screenings “without delay.”

“Since the concern which led to the cancelation has now been addressed, I urge you to rectify this situation and ensure that the screenings of the film be rescheduled without delay,” he wrote.

Sound Of Freedom was the surprise hit of the summer, earning over $183 million domestically and over $210 million internationally. The movie is based on the true story of the real life former government agent Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel), who quit his job to travel to Colombia to save a little girl who had been sex trafficked. The film exposes the very real issue of child trafficking, something that many argue is swept under the rug in this country.

Biden Administration Fights ‘Extremism’ In The Military

This comes at a time in which President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to prevent what they describe as “extremism” in the military. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned of extremism in the military back in 2021, saying that it “tear[s] at the fabric of who we are as an institution. I’ve seen this before. I’ve lived through it as a soldier and as a commander. It’s not new to our country and it’s not new to our military.”

That same year, the Department of Defense issued a report warning of a supposed rise of white supremacy in the military.

“Despite a low number of cases in absolute terms, individuals with extremist affiliations and military experience are a concern to U.S. national security because of their proven ability to execute high-impact events,” the report said, according to NBC News.

The report went on to claim that domestic extremist groups see members of the military as “highly prized,” because service members can bring “legitimacy” to their cause and help recruit more people.

“Access to service members with combat training and technical weapons expertise can also increase both the probability of success and the potency of planned violent attacks,” the report said.

Related: Jim Caviezel Warns Anti-Christian Bias Will Cost ‘Sound Of Freedom’ The Best Picture Oscar

Media Paints Child Trafficking As A Conspiracy

Then there’s the fact that Sound Of Freedom is about child trafficking, an issue that the mainstream media in this country has long tried to paint as a conspiracy theory.

Back in July, NPR reported that Sound Of Freedom is being “criticized as a vehicle for conspiracy theories and misleading depictions of human trafficking — landing it in the middle of the country’s politically polarized culture wars.”

NPR went on to attack Jim Caviezel, who stars in the movie as Ballard.

“Caviezel, who previously played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, is also drawing attention to the film in other ways,” NPR continued. “For years, he’s been a prominent promoter of the false, violent QAnon conspiracy theory — specifically, the baseless claim that an international cabal of elites is abusing and killing children to extract a substance called adrenochrome.

“These wild claims have become deeply enmeshed with narratives about child trafficking in recent years, from the QAnon predecessor Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely alleged a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C., was home to a child sex ring, to false claims that online retailer Wayfair was selling children in the guise of furniture,” the publication added.

Related: Trump Hosts ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Screening With Jim Caviezel And Tim Ballard – ‘A Great Movie’

Media Attacks Ballard

The media has also frequently attacked Ballard as of late. After he recently expressed interest in running for Senate, Daily Mail reported that seven women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Unsurprisingly, the media immediately took this and ran with it.

“As with all of the assaults on my character and integrity over many years, the latest tabloid-driven sexual allegations are false,” Ballard said in a statement afterwards. “They are baseless inventions designed to destroy me and the movement we have built to end the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable children.”

It’s unclear why exactly U.S. Southern Command cancelled its Sound Of Freedom screenings, but it’s certainly possible that this is yet another attempt to paint the movie with the scarlet letter of being a film that caters to extremists. Given how woke the military has become as of late, it would unfortunately not be a surprise if this was the case.