“Sound of Freedom” has now brought in $150 million in the domestic box office and is soon going global, so the media that smeared it from the beginning is now trying new tactics to smear the anti-sex-trafficking movie. Particularly, it’s accusing the movie of being connected to “kidnapping” through one of its funders.
As background, “Sound of Freedom” was a grassroots-supported and funded movie. Thousands of investors contributed an average of a few hundred dollars to help produce the movie, helping the studio raise a few million dollars with which the movie was made and distributed. That is how it managed to get past Hollywood’s hostility to movie and its message.
Now, one of those thousands of early investors has been arrested for renting an apartment to a woman and the media has started gloating, accusing “Sound of Freedom” and its supporters of shrugging of “kidnapping” despite the message and content of the movie.
That contributor is Fabian Marta, 51. He was arrested and charged as an accessory to child kidnapping, according to a Missouri court filing. The media then jumped on that to slander the film as being connected to child kidnapping.
Rolling Stone, for instance, ran an article titled, “‘Sound of Freedom’ Fans Shrug Off Arrest of Donor for Child Kidnapping.” Similarly, Marca ran an article titled “Dark irony: ‘Sound of Freedom’ movie donor faces child kidnapping charges.” That article’s subtitle claimed, “Marta supported the film with $5 million,” which is fundamentally untrue: he was one of many donors that helped support the film, and collectively they contributed about that sum.
Conservative Twitter personality Greg Price posted about what Marta allegedly did and what the media is trying to use it to claim in a series of posts on Twitter, saying, “The dude donated $500 on GoFundMe and was charged as an accessory to child kidnapping because he rented an apartment to a woman who took her own child who she was in a custody battle over. Why is the media so desperate to smear a movie that brings attention to child trafficking?”
Continuing, Price added, “Guy who was one of 6,000+ people who crowdfunded a movie about child trafficking gets arrested for renting an apartment to a woman who kidnapped her own child that she lost custody of. Media reports that a “major financier” of the movie kidnapped a child. Fucking stupid.”
Guy who was one of 6,000+ people who crowdfunded a movie about child trafficking gets arrested for renting an apartment to a woman who kidnapped her own child that she lost custody of.
Media reports that a "major financier" of the movie kidnapped a child.
Fucking stupid
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 5, 2023
Price’s report differed substantially from what KDSK reported. It said, “Police say Marta helped another man “harbor” two girls in an apartment on July 21, 2023. The girls were taken from their mother by an unnamed suspect and kept in the apartment. Police say Marta prevented the girls from returning to their mother by stopping the police from entering the apartment.”
However, a Deadline report indicates that Price’s characterization might be closer to the truth. According to that article, Marta is a landlord and had rented the apartment to a woman who is involved in a custody dispute with her aunt. Marta provided that woman and her child living arrangements. That sparked the arrest and charge, Deadline reports.
Further, Deadline reported that Marta’s lawyer said, “I don’t understand how they’re charging him with this. He has nothing to do with kidnapping anyone.”
Marta is a landlord to a woman who was involved in a custody dispute with her aunt. Marta was allegedly providing living arrangements to said woman and her child, the former who is involved in rehabbing the rental property.
Marta had posted about his contribution to “Sound of Freedom” on Facebook, Newsweek claims, saying, “The Sound of Freedom movie tackles a very tough subject, and took extraordinary effort to bring it to movie theaters. I’m proud to have been a small part of it. If you see the movie look for ‘Fabian Marta and Family’ at the very end of the credits.”
Angel Studios’ CEO Neal Harmon commented on the controversy, saying, “Just as anyone can invest in the stock market, everyone who meets the legal criteria can invest in Angel Studios projects. One of the perks of investing was the ability to be listed in the credits.”
Harmon added, “we’re grateful to brave law enforcement officials who have already arrested dozens of traffickers in the weeks following ‘Sound of Freedom’s’ release. Our film speaks to this globally pervasive problem, and it is our hope that perpetrators everywhere will be brought to justice no matter who they are, and that even more people will see the film to raise awareness.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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