YouTube video may have sparked deadly Libyan riots - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

A film called The Innocence of Muslims may have been the catalyst for the protests in Libya.

It reportedly cost 5-million-dollars to make, though you wouldn't know it by watching. The heart of the issue isn't it's style, but it's outrageous substance instead. Muslims don't approve of any portrayals of their prophet, so this anti-Islam which shows him as a violent, pedophile and philanderer was bound to spark fury.

Not much is known about the director. He may be an Israeli named Sam Bacile, but The Atlantic now reports that may not be his real identity. Whoever he truly is, he is now in hiding and fearing for his life.

Some Middle Eastern countries, including Afghanistan and Egypt, have now blocked access to the video on YouTube. That's where the film has been seen the most. It was only screened once, to a mostly empty theatre in Hollywood.

Then controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones, who previously incited the Muslim world by threatening to burn a Koran, began promoting the film. Soon it was translated into Arabic and picked up by Egyptian media, where the film exploded in the highly combustible political landscape of Libya

Pastor Jones released a statement blaming Islam for a lack of respect for freedom of speech and general intolerance.

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