Sound of Freedom, the movie which denounces child abuse and sex trafficking, has been a success. However, media outlets such as CNN have criticized the film, calling it a production of the QAnon movement. CNN interviewed the journalist and writer Mike Rothschild, who claimed that the film was created out of moral panic and fear among citizens. He also argued that the numbers showing the box office success of the production are false.
“These films are created out of moral panics. They're created out of bogus statistics. They're created out of fear. And with something like Sound of Freedom, it specifically is looking at QAnon concepts of these child trafficking rings that are run by the high level elites", Rothschild said on CNN.
NEW: CNN vocally opposes the release of ‘Sound of Freedom’, a movie exposing the reality of child sex trafficking, calling it a ‘QAnon’ film.
Imagine being upset about a movie exposing child sex trafficking and thinking you’re the good guys.
“These films are created out of… pic.twitter.com/ED0zMyEwZQ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 8, 2023
In response to the comments, Tim Ballard, a former government agent who left his job to save a girl from sex traffickers in Colombia and ended up saving hundreds of children, said the position of criticizing the film is "a little sick." He argued that it is shameful that correlations such as QAnon are used to refer to real life stories of hundreds of children.
Ballard explained that he knew the stories firsthand and that he cannot imagine what the victims think when they hear statements like Rothschild's. "As that guy is talking, and he's nobody's hero, by the way, I can't imagine any kid looking at him thinking he's going to help them out. But I think of the children that are really depicted in that film. I know what happened to them. Those children were the subjects of child rape videos. Those children were being sold for sex. In total, you see over 120 kids actually are rescued" Ballard said during a conversation on Fox News.
"This is just some other agenda, who would want to get the backs or run interference for pedophiles and human traffickers? That's the more important question in all this. Why would you want to lie to push an agenda whose goal is to have children be in captivity? It's kind of sick", he added.
The film achieved, during its opening week, two million viewers. The box office number is symbolic because it is the number of children who are victims of human traffickers and sexual violence .
